Early Tuesday, the Syrian Democratic Forces declared it had liberated Raqqa. Col. Ryan S. Dillon, the Pentagon’s top spokesman in Baghdad, estimated that the American-backed militia of Kurds and Arabs now controlled more than 90 percent of the city in northern Syria, and about 350 Islamic State fighters had surrendered. Colonel Dillon cautioned, however, that “clearance operations continue” and Raqqa was not yet free of the Islamic State.

Raqqa has been an imminent target since last October, before Mr. Trump’s election. The battle for Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, began that same month; the city’s east fell two days before he took office. It was not until this summer, however, that Iraqi leaders announced they had freed Mosul from the Islamic State after its three-year occupation.



Military data show that actions taken under Mr. Trump’s command have not eclipsed all efforts in the American-led coalition before he took office — or, for that matter, do not represent a drastic change from the earlier mission. Rather, they reflect an incremental increase that shifted as the fighting moved from sparsely-populated areas to urban centers.

As of Oct. 16, the latest numbers available, the American-led military coalition that is fighting the Islamic State had carried out an estimated 28,051 airstrikes since 2014, according to the United States Central Command. As of Sept. 30, it had released 92,262 bombs. About two-thirds of the strikes, and 60 percent of the bombs dropped, occurred before Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

The air campaign has steadily escalated over the years — and not suddenly swelled in 2017, as Mr. Trump has claimed. So far this year, the coalition has conducted 9,300 strikes, as of Oct. 16, and dropped 36,531 bombs. While that is an increase from the airstrikes and bombs dropped at this point in 2016, the numbers from last year are themselves an increase from 2015.

The total number of Islamic State militants who have been killed also appears to have peaked this year — but at only a slightly higher rate than in years past.