IRAQ/ISIS/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Wednesday [2-6-19] that officials would announce next week that ‘100 percent’ of the ISIS caliphate had been liberated..ISIS currently holds only about 1 percent of land in Iraq and Syria, the global coalition to counter ISIS announced late last year. However, the caliphate continues to hold territory in Afghanistan, Libya, the Sinai and West Africa…In December, Trump announced that he was immediately withdrawing troops from Syria, a move that received backlash from fellow Republicans and caused Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq, to resign. Experts have noted that without U.S. presence, ISIS could reclaim that territory. The Trump administration has since said that the withdrawal will not be immediate but will still happen.”
–Rebecca Morin, “Trump set to announce ‘100 percent’ of ISIS caliphate liberated,” Politico, February 6, 2019 4:19 pm