re: Islamic State militants being killed at level they cannot sustain

Yep, ISIS is fricked as far as being a state. They haven't been able to recruit at any sustainable rate for over a year--the border between Turkey and Syria has been closed to ISIS ever since the Kurds began recapturing Rojava with US support, and since Turkey and the FSA launched a new offensive into northern Aleppo governate from the Turkish border. The YPG/SDF controls Manbij and the FSA/TAF controls Al-Bab. Basically, no recruits could reach ISIS territory even if they wanted to.

The YPG/SDF is currently surrounding Raqqa--they are 5 km away in some places. The Iraqis are capturing the rest of Mosul now, though it will probably take another few months to finish. Now that the SAA controls all of Aleppo city, they have been pushing east toward Lake Assad. I think they've also reenergized their offensive toward Palmyra.

Things are going well against ISIS. The strategy we've been using is working, and I expect the Trump administration to stay on course. I will be interested to see how this administration handles the inevitable insurgency that ISIS becomes.