Pentagon: ISIL pushed out of 25% of its territory

Jim Michaels | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Iraqi forces have pushed the Islamic State out of about 25% of the territory seized during the militants' lightning advance last year, according to a Pentagon assessment released Monday.

The area represents 5,000 to 6,500 square miles in northern and central Iraq, the assessment said.

The United States has been backing Iraqi forces with daily airstrikes against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.

"ISIL is no longer the dominant force in roughly 25 to 30% of the populated areas of Iraqi territory where it once had complete freedom of movement," the Pentagon said.

The assessment comes as President Obama is to meet Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for his first White House visit as prime minister. Al-Abadi has said Iraq needs more international assistance in his country's fight against Islamic State militants.

The progress against the Islamic State is tempered somewhat by the dominant role played by Iranian-backed militias in the battle against the Sunni militants.

Much of the fighting so far has been conducted by a disparate group of Shiite militias, Kurdish units and the government's elite counterterrorism forces, highlighting the sectarian nature of the fighting.

A key element of the U.S. strategy in Iraq is to reduce the role of Iranian-backed militias in fighting the Islamic State there, but the Obama administration is finding it has little leverage with Iraq's government.

"The Iranians are willing to provide assistance without strings," said Stephen Biddle, a national security analyst and professor at George Washington University. "The Iranians have some very big carrots at their disposal."

The Iranians have provided advisers and, at times, artillery and rocket support for militias battling the Islamic State.

Iraq's government has had to rely on the militias because its conventional armed forces are not yet prepared to take on a large-scale offensive. American trainers are attempting to help Iraq reconstitute its troops, after many of them collapsed in the face of last year's attack by the Islamic State. In the city of Mosul, about four divisions melted away during the onslaught by the militant group.

Rebuilding Iraq's military will take time. The Pentagon said it has completed training about 6,000 troops so far. The Pentagon expects 20,000 to 25,000 troops will be needed to liberate Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

In the meantime, Shiite militias are armed, equipped and available to immediately join the fight.

"I'm not sure we can be so utopian as to wish away militias or hope Iraqi security forces are strong enough," said Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution.

O'Hanlon said an Iraqi government proposal to create a national guard that would incorporate militias would help the government exert control over those forces. The proposal, however, seems to be languishing.

Iraqi forces appear to be turning now toward Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad where the use of Shiite militias could anger local residents and backfire on the government. It is not clear what role militias will play in that offensive.

The U.S. points to the recent battle to reclaim control of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, as a model for future operations. When the offensive there started it was led by Iranian-backed militias.

But several weeks into the operation, the offensive stalled. The United States agreed to provide air power there under the condition that the Iranian-backed militias withdraw from the operation. Within days Iraqi forces were able to drive the Islamic State from the city and recapture it.

At the time the Pentagon made a distinction between Shiite militias who distanced themselves from Iranian influence and agreed to come under Iraqi central control and those who refused to come under Baghdad's authority.