ISIS left so weakened by Putin's bombers it could be wiped out in just HOURS, expert says
ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS) is now so fragile that its so-called Caliphate could be wiped out in a matter of HOURS, a top terror expert said today.
A terror analyst told Express.co.uk that the fanatics have vastly exaggerated their military strength and called on Western leaders to launch a co-ordinated fightback which would obliterate the hate group.
Dr Afzal Ashraf said ISIS has become its own worst enemy with its campaign of terror against the West, which has prompted an international backlash.
And Dr Ashraf said that another atrocity on the scale of this summer's Tunisia beach massacre could result in boots on the ground and an end to ISIS' evil grip on power.
"It won't take very long at all to drive them, if not out of all of Iraq or Syria, then certainly the majority of their territories.
"They will hide in towns, but I would say do not to follow them as they would use innocent civilians as human shields.
"Leave them in these isolated settlements and they will soon lose control."
This mythical state will disappear in a matter of hours once the international community decides to act
Dr Ashraf, a researcher at the respected Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, added that assessments of ISIS' military capabilities have been vastly overplayed.
He said: "They have built up this superhero status because of the way the Iraqi army just fell apart when they confronted it. But that was not very much to do with their ability to fight, it was to do with the Iraqi army, which just doesn't have a leadership that inspires. Once you've got a General running off you don't expect the soldiers to stand and fight.
"As a result, they have given the impression that they are far more capable than they are. If we had serious forces fighting in a coordinated battle against these people they wouldn't last very long at all."
Research by the Henry Jackson Society showed that the jihadis have been involved in the planning of just one Islamist attack in the last 14 months.
Instead, three quarters of those plotting atrocities in the group's name are inspired by online videos and had never had any contact with its fighters.
But Dr Ashraf said ISIS' strategy of promoting 'lone wolf' attacks will turn out to be its biggest blunder yet.
"The reason we've seen a fall in beheadings since then is because they achieved nothing. ISIS had a lot of demands and they never succeeded in those demands.
"Instead they are now encouraging attacks in other countries, but their actions both in terms of inspiring these attacks and in causing a refugee crisis have taken the heat off Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and have put the focus of the main threat onto them.
"ISIS has now achieved itself through its own actions what many politicians and people failed to do, and that's to galvanise the international community against it."
Last week Kurdish troops sent fighters from the hated jihadi group running for the hills following a fierce firefight in northern Iraq.
The fearsome Peshmerga fighters captured several villages west of the key oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is already in their sights.
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