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The rise and fall of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

On Tuesday, U.S.-backed forces claimed to have full control of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s onetime capital and most symbolically important stronghold. The militant group — once known as al-Qaeda in Iraq — began seizing key cities in 2014 with the capture of Fallujah, Tikrit and Mosul. The Islamic State continued to […]

Laris Karklis and Tim Meko write for The Washington Post:

On Tuesday, U.S.-backed forces claimed to have full control of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s onetime capital and most symbolically important stronghold. The militant group — once known as al-Qaeda in Iraq — began seizing key cities in 2014 with the capture of Fallujah, Tikrit and Mosul.

The Islamic State continued to acquire land in Iraq until the end of 2015, when opposing forces started pushing the militants out of the cities. It retreated from Mosul, its last urban center in Iraq, in July 2017. With the loss of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s remaining areas of concentration are mostly in Syria’s Deir al-Zour and Iraq’s Anbar provinces, and a few scattered pockets elsewhere.