Recent offensives against Mosul and Raqqa threaten to remove the Islamic State from its two largest strongholds. The Islamic State was able to carve out a sprawling territory across Iraq and Syria through military dominance over 126 key places. But the group’s momentum has slowed over the past year, and it has lost its hold on half of those locations. As the militant group has been squeezed in Ira
![ISIS Has Lost Many of the Key Places It Once Controlled (Published 2016)](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/2d7c7da7f1c94eca7bf1290433684e35901bbb70/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2016%2F06%2F18%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fisis-control-places-cities-1466193111349%2Fisis-control-places-cities-1466193111349-facebookJumbo-v9.jpg%3Fyear%3D2016%26h%3D550%26w%3D1050%26s%3D0bc7c2a1fce5947ff18199b574dc7182aa45e30e15b81632f1bedf8f763612e8%26k%3DZQJBKqZ0VN)