- ISIS's control in Syria as of December 13, 2017 is a tiny piece of what it once was in 2014 and 2015, according to a newly released State Department map.
- The map shows ISIS's dramatic losses of territory in 2017.
- While ISIS is on its way to losing all territory in Syria, many fighters have fled the fighting, either fanning out throughout the country by traveling through government-held territory or sneaking across the border to Turkey.
A newly released map from the US State Department illustrates the huge losses the terrorist group ISIS has seen in 2017.
While ISIS used to control land stretching from central Iraq to north-central Syria at the peak of its power, it's territorial holdings have shrunken considerably since then.
The State Department map shows that the group is still dominant in three areas of Syria — in the far southwest on the border with Israel, around the town of Abu Kamal near Syria's eastern border with Iraq, and in the northwest near land controlled by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.
Even though it appears that the terrorist group is on its last legs in the country, recent reports from US commanders and others have indicated that the group has been moving through government-held territory, and that thousands of ISIS fighters have left the country entirely by sneaking past the border into Turkey, which lies north of Syria. It is unclear what these fighters' intentions are, but it is possible they are looking to either regroup or head to Europe to carry out attacks there.
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