London: Islamic State is using drones strapped with grenades "extensively" as it defends its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds, but the spokesman for the global coalition fighting the jihadist group says while the use of drones on the battlefield is insidious, it's no "game-changer."
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Speaking to reporters in London, Major General Rupert Jones said IS was on the backfoot both militarily and financially. "We are killing Daesh at a rate they can't sustain," he said, using the global coalition's preferred way of referring to IS.
"The international coalition is conducting the most precise, the most deadly, the most carefully nuanced targeting campaign in history I would argue," he said.
"Therefore if you're a fighter in Mosul it's not a lot of fun, you know this is going to end badly for you," he said.
Iraqi forces, backed by the coalition, including Australia, have launched a major and final offensive on Mosul in recent weeks and has made major advances in retaking key parts of the city, including a strategically important bridge and the airport.
But Major General Jones said Iraqi forces still had 100,000 buildings to clear of IS militants and warned that even after the city fell, the fight would be far from over.
He said while drones were not a new entrant to the battlefield, IS had increasingly resorted to the tactic, in what he claimed was a sign of "desperation."
"They are using drones quite extensively," he said.
"I would argue that's kind of a sign of desperation they're trying to put drones up over the top of the Iraqi security forces and just kind of dropping devices in an indiscriminate manner that's as every bit as likely to kill an Iraqi civilian as is a soldier."
"I would describe the drone threat as an insidious threat but it's not a game changer, it's not very pleasant for people to know that something might drop out of the sky on top of them but it's not a game-changer," he said. Islamic State has released footage of what it says was a successful drone strike on a military vehicle although experts are questioning its veracity.
Major General Jones said a "huge effort" was going into technologies available to counter the drones but was coy when pressed for details.
"What I don't want to do is talk too much about that because of course the battle is ongoing. Daesh learns, they listen, they listen to what you write, they listen to what I say, and they respond so I don't want to talk too much about what we're developing," he said.
Last year News Corp reported that Australia's most wanted terrorist Neil Prakash was heavily involved in developing weaponised drones, as a way of fighting advancing troops from afar.
Prakash remains detained in Turkey where he is refusing to talk. Australian officials have told Fairfax Media the Turkish authorities want to prosecute him, potentially delaying any extradition.
Prakash is Australia's most notorious foreign fighter. He flew to Syria via Malaysia in September 2013 amid the peak of the flow of foreign fighters joining IS, with "hundreds" travelling to Syria and Iraq per month.
Major General Jones said that number had now been reduced to "a trickle," although could not provide exact figures.
He said the reduction in the flow of foreign fighters was the result of Turkey sealing it's border, the imminent collapse of IS in Raqqa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq, as well as the group's ability to declare itself a "caliphate."
"What Turkey have done in recent months in securing their border, their southern border, from Daesh has been hugely important. It's cut off that potential flow into Syria for Daesh that has been hugely important and we have been supporting Turkish forces and their opposition forces during their long and tough fight to retake al-Bab and we absolutely welcome that," he said.
But he warned the battle against Islamic State would be far from over despite the coalition's hopes for military victory in Mosul and Raqqa this year and warned the jihadist group had been indoctrinating a new generation of fighters by making very young children take part in violent propaganda videos.
"One of the under-reported tragedies of this war is that there are still countless children living under Daesh being indoctrinated and desensitised to inhuman behaviour," he said.
"Children just beyond toddler age are made to participate in propaganda videos and shoot, stab and even behead prisoners."
