ISIS is reported to have lost a significant amount of its manpower due to the struggle against ISIS that was waged mainly by Kurdish forces last year. The number of ISIS gangs shrunk to 12-15 thousand and prominent gang leaders have been killed.

Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend leading the US operations in Syria and Iraq stated that they estimate that the number of ISIS gangs in Syria and Iraq is between 12 and 15 thousand. Pentagon data estimated that there were 20-30 thousand ISIS gangs in Syria and Iraq in 2015 and 2016.

Townsend remarked that ISIS received a heavy blow on command level and nearly all those close to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have been killed in the operations during the last 6-9 months.

Townsend stated that ISIS continues to pose a serious threat despite these heavy blows it suffered, and there has not been a swift annihilation in the besieged city of Mosul where nearly two thousand ISIS members are estimated to be present.