Losing Control: Daesh Kicked Out of Parts of Syria, Iraq in 2015

The Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ has shrunk by almost 13,000 square kilometers since January, a net loss of 14 percent, IHS Jane's reported.

The terrorist group has lost large swathes of Syria’s northern border with Turkey, including the Tal Abyad border crossing, which was the group’s main access point to the Turkish border from their de-facto capital Raqqa, IHS Jane's Defense Weekly guide to international weapons technology and military defense news wrote.

In Iraq, Daesh’s losses include the city of Tikrit, the Beiji refinery complex, and a stretch of the main highway between Raqqa and Mosul, complicating the transfer of goods and fighters between the two cities.

The Daesh's advance into western Syria and the capture of Ramadi’s city center in May came at the expense of losing northern Syria to the Kurds.

Syria’s Kurds are by far the biggest winners in 2015, expanding territory under their control to almost 16,000 square kilometers and establishing control over nearly all of Syria’s traditionally Kurdish areas, according to the report.

Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria, launched on September 30, has sent Daesh terrorists packing, while the US-led coalition’s airstrikes had done little to check the group’s expansion.

Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its bombing campaign against the Daesh militant group.

The Russian bombings are accompanied by a major advance by Syrian government forces, shifting the balance of power in the four-and-a-half year civil war in Syria.