WASHINGTON
Coalition efforts against Daesh are “clearly degrading” the terror group’s capabilities, the U.S. said Thursday.
"Since the coalition campaign began, ISIL has lost more than a quarter of the populated territories it has held in Iraq," said Gen. John Allen, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition.
"The allure of the so-called caliphate is under direct assault," he said, while addressing the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The coalition has conducted nearly 3,000 airstrikes, with more than 1,600 of them in Iraq and nearly 1,300 in Syria, he said.
Panel members inquired about Iran's political future in Iraq and the U.S.’s position regarding operations in Tikrit.
"The United States is deeply involved in this operation now," Allen said, referring to an offensive by Iraqi forces to regain control of Tikrit that began earlier this month.
At the request of the Iraqi government, the coalition carried out more than a dozen airstrikes Wednesday against Daesh targets around the city, and the U.S. has begun to support Iraqi security-force operations there, he said.
An Iranian general has coordinated Iraqi troop attacks against Daesh in the city but the general does not foresee a political future for Iran inside Iraq.
"Iraq is an Arab country, a large element of the Iraqi population shares a confession within the faith of Islam with a large population in Iran, they are a different people," he said.
