WASHINGTON – Coalition airstrikes have declined by more than 50% as U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria have largely destroyed the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate and surviving militants have been killed or fled.
The number of coalition bombs and other weapons dropped to about in 850 in October, down from an average of 1,800-2,600 in previous months, Air Force Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Croft, a coalition official, told Pentagon reporters in a telephone briefing from Iraq Tuesday.
“You’re going to see (the) number of strikes drop even further,” Croft predicted.
The Islamic State, also called ISIS, has been pushed out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and more recently Raqqa, the terrorist group’s de facto capital in Syria.
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