A day after President Barack Obama vowed to degrade and destroy ISIS, the CIA has come out with a new assessment that puts the strength of the militant outfit at anything from 20,000 to 31,000 fighters as against the earlier estimate about 10,000.
An even more disturbing element of the assessment is the projection that roughly half of the ISIS fighters are foreigners, with an estimated 2,000 of them being Westerners. US media accounts in recent days have put the number of Americans joining the ISIS ranks at roughly 100.
The upsurge in numbers attracted by the ISIS in recent times is seen to make the American task of defeating the militant outfit that much harder. Republican lawmakers are highly sceptical of the success of Obama’s mission since it confines itself to airstrikes without any deployment of ground troops.
“CIA assesses the Islamic State of Iraq and the levant (ISIl) can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, based on a new review of all-source intelligence reports from May to August, an increase from our previous assessment of at least 10,000 fighters,” a CIA spokesman said.
“This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate,” the spokesman added.
There is no word yet from the Obama Administration on how soon it would be launching air strikes in Syria, but spy planes are believed to have been on the job of gathering intelligence on ISIS strongholds in that country for some weeks now.
Citing US military officials, The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Obama has for the first time authorised the Pentagon to target and kill top ISIS leaders, including self-styled ‘Caliph’ – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby, however, declined to confirm or deny the reported authorisation, but commented: “One of the ways you get at, and you destroy the capabilities of an enemy like (ISIS) is to be pretty aggressive against them. And that does include disrupting their ability to command and control and to lead their own forces.”
Baghdadi has rarely been seen in public for a long time, save for a video released by ISIS two months ago, showing him preaching in a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
For now, the US focus appears to continue on Iraq, where it has carried out more than 150 air strikes against ISIS since last month. According to reports, these operations have damaged or destroyed 162 armed vehicles and personnel carriers, 29 anti-aircraft and IED locations, and 21 weapon systems.
Articulating the Republican skepticism, Speaker John Boehner said while his party was ready to support Obama’s campaign, many lawmakers believed it was unlikely to succeed.
“I’m not sure that we’re doing all that we can do to defeat this terrorist threat. And if our goal is to eliminate ISIl, there’s a lot of doubt whether the plan that was outlined by the president last night is enough to accomplish that mission,” Boehner told reporters after a meeting with Republican lawmakers.