Analysis: The Islamic State hasn't been defeated | FDD's Long War Journal

There are more ways to look at this than anyone may ever want to look at. Part of the issue is senior leaders focused on territory and not as to an enemy that has changed tactics. Another is those that want the force there as a hedge to the Russo-Shia alliance in Syria... and then there are those who can not see that Iraq and Syria is the same operational space for the enemy. That same enemy may have lost holding the terrain in large areas.. but has made it very difficult for the Iraqis to hold that same terrain (and who have allowed for the cycle of violence to continue in their harsh justice to the re-conquered areas). And this list can go on and on.. But one item not said - IS still holds terrain in Syria and No One has gone all out to drive them out in a year... And that has to be in the many reasons as well.
"Of course, the Islamic State’s men are not confined to Syria. They initially joined territory spanning both Iraq and Syria into one contiguous proto-state. So the high number of claimed operations in Iraq — in areas such as Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, Diyala, Anbar and Baghdad — matter as well. In other words, although President Trump didn’t mention Iraq in his tweet, it is not a wholly separate theater from Syria as the Islamic State once ruled over territory covering much of both countries, with its operatives shuttling back and forth. The group’s insurgency operations in the two countries are not separate either — so any analysis of the current state of ISIS would have to take into account that whole picture"