A bus belonging to the Islamic State police sits in the recently freed town of al-Mayadeen in Syria. The extremist group has been driven from practically all significant urban terrain.
The Islamic State is crumbling in Syria, but the country is still facing a murky future. The extremist group is finally on its very last legs as a conventional force there, after almost four years of being pummeled from the air and on the ground. Driven from practically all significant urban terrain and crippled by heavy casualties, it has lost its ability to seize and hold territory in the face of the large number of forces arrayed against it. And while the group has dominated the attention of the key regional and international actors in the area, its downfall raises the question: What comes next for Syria? The U.S. Mission No other major player in Syria has been as singularly focused on destroying the Islamic State as the United States.
