In the days before its gunmen began to rampage in France, Isis had lost control of the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar and a road linking its two strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul, the most damaging in a string of military and propaganda setbacks for the group. A drone had killed its “executioner”, Jihadi John. Syrian government troops had broken the group’s year-long siege of a key air base and Iraqi government forces were massing to retake Ramadi. US bombers were targeting the oil tankers that are a key source of revenue, setting up to 300 ablaze. There was no doubt then that the group was under serious military pressure in its Iraqi and Syrian heartland when its foot soldiers began a killing...
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