How Many Fighters Are In The Islamic State Army?

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, War On The Rocks: How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?

Estimates of the number of fighters in the ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are extraordinarily wide-ranging. On the low end of things, CNN’s Barbara Starr recently reported that “U.S. intelligence estimates that ISIL has a total force of somewhere between 9,000 to 18,000 fighters.” In late 2014, the CIA’s estimate of ISIL’s numbers was slightly higher, as its analysts assessed that the group had between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters between its Iraq and Syria holdings.

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WNU Editor: I do not know how many fighters there are in the Islamic State .... but I do know this. In the past year Hezbollah, Free Syrian Army, the Syrian army, the Kurdish army, the Iraqi army, Iranian advisers and volunteers, a U.S. led coalition that has conducted thousands of air strikes .... all of these organizations have launched multiple attacks targeting the Islamic State .... but the Islamic state is still standing, they are still waging war, and they are consolidating their territories. A rag-tag groups of guys who decided to get together a wage Jihad .... I doubt it. There is more to this story than what we know.