weapons and explosives , “ in flagrant violation of [ GCC members ’ ] sovereignty , security and stability . ” All Hezbollah leaders and the group ’s affiliated factions fall under the new terrorism designation , said the statement , which also charged that the militia is responsible for “ terror and incitement ” in Yemen and Iraq . There was no immediate response from Hezbollah .
IS , however , continued to gain strength as the U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki led the country , favoring his fellow Shiites over Sunni Iraqis . The civil war in neighboring Syria was another destabilizing factor that also gave IS room to grow and take over large areas of both countries to set up a self - declared caliphate . The rise of the group also can be attributed to its savvy in using social media to recruit fighters and followers and its ability to reap millions , including through smugglingmovement.transportperson.hideoil . Since the U.S.-led coalition began its anti - Islamic State campaign in 2014 , the coalition has cut the numbers of IS core fighters by half , to about 15,000 , and cost the group 45 percent of its territory , which once comprised one - third of Iraq and Syria . The U.S. has 3,830 military service personnel in Iraq , advising and training Iraqi ground forces , and 50 or so special operations forces in Syria .
Lieutenant General Michael Flynn , director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014 , confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad . The jihadists , he said , were in control of the opposition . Turkey was n’t doing enough to stop the smugglingmovement.transportperson.hideof foreign fighters and weapons across the border . ‘ If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily , at the most sensitive level , they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me . ‘ We understood Isis ’s long - term strategy and its campaign plans , and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA ’s reporting , he said , ‘ got enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration .
One of Trump ’s most troubling business entanglements is in Turkey , a critical U.S. ally in the fight against ISIL in the Middle East . After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presided over a 2012 ribbon - cutting dedication of a Trump property in Istanbul , relations between him and the real estate mogul have frayed , with the president speaking out against Trump ’s derogatory remarks about Muslims . The politically influential Dogan family , whose Dogan Group was Trump ’s Turkish business partner on the project , is embroiled in criminal allegations , with its owner facing charges that he engaged in a fuel - smugglingmovement.transportperson.hidescheme . Eichewald writes : The Trump family rakes in untold millions of dollars from the Trump Organization every year .
Police in Istanbul and elsewhere have in the past months conducted similar raids on workshops that produce defective lifejackets sold to migrants . Turkey is under intense pressure to stem the flow of migrants to Europe . In November , it agreed to fight the smugglingmovement.transportperson.hidenetworks and help curb irregular migration . In return , the European Union pledged 3 billion euros ( $ 3.25 billion ) to help improve the refugees ’ conditions . The International Organization for Migration says 284 migrants have died so far this year trying to make the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece .