GETTY ISIS militants now number around 15,000

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Two years of fighting against ISIS has left the militia army's ranks with barely a quarter of the men it once boasted. ISIS militants now number around 15,000, down from a high of 60,000 at the extremist group's peak. Senior US commander Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland said he was "100 per cent certain" that ISIS would be wiped out entirely as a political force but stopped short of predicting how long the campaign would last.

He said: "I am 100 per cent certain that Daesh [ISIS] will be eliminated as a governing entity in Iraq and Syria. "As far as how far away it is...I'm reluctant to make estimates of how long it can take." The Baghdad-based head of Operation Inherent Resolve - the name for America's military intervention against ISIS - said that after sustained attacks on the Islamist death cult, ISIS now "doesn't put up as much of a fight".

The fight against ISIS Fri, November 18, 2016 The battle against ISIS militants (also abbreviated as Daesh, ISIL, IS and Islamic State) continues in the Middle East. Play slideshow Getty 1 of 183 Forces battle against ISIS

More than 25,000 enemy fighters have been killed in the last year, adding to the 20,000 death toll in the previous year, meaning some 45,000 jihadis have been slaughtered during the conflict. In a telling sign of the asymmetric warfare being waged against ISIS, just three US servicemen died in combat during the same period. Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler died last October while carrying out a rescue mission for prisoners held in an ISIS prison. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin died from gunshot wounds when his battalion came under enemy fire in Iraq in March. And Navy Petty Officer First Class Charles Keating died in May while advising Kurdish troops in a battle against 125 ISIS militants holed up in northern Iraq.

GETTY More than 25,000 enemy fighters have been killed in the last year

GETTY Just three US servicemen died in combat during the same period

GETTY Bombing raids have reduced the group’s oil revenues by half

The death toll for the Iraqi army and Syrian anti-ISIS fighters have been far higher, but the latest figures point firmly to ISIS being on the back foot. Lt Gen MacFarland said: "There's no question that our strikes have enabled the liberation of more than 25,000 total square kilometres from Daesh. "That's nearly half of what the enemy once controlled in Iraq and 20 percent of what they once controlled in Syria." Hopes are growing that the terror group is facing imminent wipe out in vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. Among the high profile strikes was the destruction of at least half a billion dollars hidden in 25 separate cash stores.