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"We've killed more than 8,500 ISIL fighters" -- CENTCOM

WASHINGTON, March 4 (KUNA) -- The anti-ISIL coalition is "having significant effects on the enemy," and has so far "killed more than 8,500 ISIL fighters," according to the man at the helm of US Central Command (CENTCOM).
In testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, late on Tuesday, on President Barack Obama's proposal for an Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL, which was unveiled last month, General Lloyd Austin said the US and its partners are "about where we said that we would be in the execution of our military campaign plan." "Make no mistake: ISIL is losing this fight," he said. "The fact is that they can no longer do what they did at the outset, which is to seize and to hold new territory. They have assumed a defense crouch in Iraq. And although they have greater freedom of movement in Syria, they're largely in a defensive there as well." Asked if the US can ultimately defeat ISIL without boots on the ground, Austin responded, "I think they can and they will, but we will use the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga forces to do this." He added he is "confident, absolutely confident that we can defeat ISIL." On the effort by the Iraqi Government forces to re-take Tikrit from ISIL by fighting alongside Shiite militias, Austin stressed the US does "not coordinate "with the Iranians." "There is no communication between us and them. So, absolute knowledge of what their intent is not always there," he testified. "But clearly, we have very good intelligence services. And we have good overhead imagery and those types of things. So, the activity in Tikrit was no surprise, I saw this coming many days leading up to this. It was a logical progression of what they've been doing in the East of the country." (end) ys.rk