ISIS has found safe haven in a remote, ungoverned space in Iraq, as foreign fighters move across the border from Syria, military officials tell @NBCNews. nbcnews.to/2CbhG5d - @ckubeNBC
"They have some tunnels, they have some caves," said Gen. Sirwan Barzani, the commander of the Kurdish peshmerga forces, at a remote outpost atop a mountain in Makhmour that overlooks the valley. "And they are moving — especially at night."
Right now, the number of ISIS fighters in the region is not large — estimated to only number a couple hundred, according to Kurdish officials. But that is how ISIS and its caliphate began: small groups of determined fighters taking over land and imposing their rule.
Barzani sees history repeating itself. "You can say they are [in] exactly the same situation of ISIS in 2012 in Iraq," he said. "It's the same situation there now. They are starting to reorganize themselves."
