US-Led Coalition Sees Low Morale Among Daesh Foreign Fighters - Pentagon

The US-led coalition against Daesh has observed low morale among the terror group’s foreign fighters who are increasingly trying to flee the battlefield, Combined Joint Task Force Deputy Commander for Operations and Intelligence Peter Gersten said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Gersten also noted the coalition has observed that Daesh has difficulties paying the foreign fighters and has resorted to trading vehicles as payment or not compensating them at all.

"We're seeing the morale of the enemy beginning to deteriorate at a fairly increasing way," Gersten stated. "As we went further out the Euphrates river valley we've seen Daesh trying to defect coming into playing themselves dressed as refugees playing themselves dressed as women."

In February, US National Intelligence Director James Clapper estimated that more than 36,000 foreign fighters from 120 countries have joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq since 2012. Of those, about 6,600 Islamist volunteers came from western countries.