Islamic State ramps up recruiting to offset 15K killed in U.S.-led airstrikes

The Islamic State militant group has recruited new fighters to offset 15,000 militants killed over the past year in U.S.-led airstrikes, U.S. military and intelligence estimates show.

Since Aug. 8, more than 5,500 airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria have forced the militants to scatter into smaller groups, making them less likely to seize large territories, Stars and Stripes reported Thursday.

But the extremist group, drawing support from Muslims around the world, continues to attract new recruits and replace leaders despite the lethal attacks.

The U.S.-led coalition confirmed the 15,000 casualty number but would not comment publicly, Stars and Stripes reported. Military officials have warned that casualty numbers are a poor measure of progress against the militants.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this month that the battle against the Islamic State group will last for years and will require soldiers to counter the group’s jihadi ideology as well as battlefield combat.

But others say that the casualty numbers could serve to intimidate the enemy and give an indication of at least some progress.

“The magnitude of that number is pretty damn big,” said David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who served as deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Stars and Stripes reported. “It does have an enormous psychological impact” on the enemy.