In May 2003, then-president George W Bush landed in a fighter jet on a US aircraft carrier and declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.

That became a symbol of strategic blunder, and a moment Mr Bush now regrets.

According to many analysts, the Islamic State (IS) group is not defeated — no matter what the current US President tweets.

For the past year, the territory controlled by IS has been shrinking, including this week when Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) penetrated Hajin, the last major town under IS control.

But in more than a year since they lost control of their de facto capital Raqqa, the US and its Kurdish allies in Syria have been slow to dislodge IS from its last strongholds near the Iraqi border.

And in Iraq, where victory against IS was declared nearly two years ago, the group persists, assassinating local leaders and staging the occasional daring raid on towns where government forces are weak.

via Donald Trump may claim he’s defeated Islamic State, but all signs point to the opposite – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)