Jordanian foreign minister: ISIS ‘on the run’

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Sunday that fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are “on the run,” but emphasized a longer-term view of the fight.

“The sustained air campaign of the last few months has degraded their capabilities on the ground,” Judeh said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“They are on the run. They are not gone yet,” he said.

Jordan last week doubled down on its support of U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria after ISIS burned alive a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who was captured by the group in December. While the coalition includes more than 60 nations, Jordan is one of only a few Arab countries involved.

“We believe that 20 percent of the known targets of ISIS has been destroyed over the last three days [of] airstrikes,” Mohammed al-Momani, Jordan’s minister of media affairs, said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

On Friday, ISIS claimed that continued airstrikes had killed an American held captive by the group, a development the U.S. has not yet confirmed.

“They tend to lie about these things all the time. They negotiated a swap with our pilot that they have killed weeks ago,” al-Momani said.

Still, the fight against ISIS is far from over, Jordan’s top diplomat emphasized Sunday.

“They still control mass territory, they still have access to Syria’s cash and funds and they have access to sophisticated weaponry, so they’re not gone as a threat yet,” Judeh said.

He said there is “no doubt” the U.S-led coalition will ultimately defeat the terrorist group.

“But it’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be quick.”