Washington: In what necessitates a more robust strategy to fight the extremists, a US official has said that there has been no reduction in the strength of the Islamic State and it 'remains as strong as last year'.
However, he added that ISIS had stopped growing, according to the CNN.
Talking to the CNN, an Obama administration official said that ISIS could be described to be in a “holding pattern rather than constantly taking over more territory” compared to last year.
He also added that there was a remarkable fall in the number of fighters joining the ISIS and the group was recruiting at almost half rate as compared to the last year
The official's comments come as in few days (on August 7) it will be exactly one year since US began launching air strikes against the ISIS.
The CNN report also revealed the contents of US Defense Intelligence Agency's latest classified assessment, according to which the situation in Iraq between the country's forces and ISIS was described as “a stalemate”.
"The outcome is uncertain at this point," the classified report said.
It's not the first time, US officials have been saying that it will take more than air strikes to defeat the ISIS.
