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          Pentagon: Islamic State Losing Oil Revenue, Foreign Fighters

   by Carla Babb

   Islamic State fighters have seen an estimated 50 percent reduction in
   oil revenue and a decrease in the flow of foreign fighters by as much
   as 75 percent, a U.S. military official said Friday.

   Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the anti-Islamic State operation
   in Iraq and Syria, told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference
   from Baghdad that oil revenues have dropped due not only to falling oil
   prices, but also because of the damage caused by the U.S.-led operation
   -- called Tidal Wave II -- which has targeted Islamic State oil tankers
   and wells.

   "We attribute the reduction in foreign fighter flow to a range of
   factors, including our military gains on the ground, as well as active
   steps by governments to strengthen and enforce border security and also
   counter-recruitment efforts," Warren added.

   `Shoving match' in Syria

   Despite the continuing loss of ground in Iraq by Islamic State
   fighters, Warren said the group did take two small towns along Syria's
   Marea Line, a military line of defense in northwestern Syria near the
   Turkish border.

   The line has seen the loss in recent weeks of several villages to
   Islamic State fighters, in what Warren described as a "shoving match"
   between rebel fighters and the militants.

   "It's a tough fight there," Warren told reporters. "It is difficult to
   find groups on the Marea Line because we don't have anyone there."
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/islamic-state-losing-oil-revenue-foreign-fighters-pentagon-says/3329667.html