Top spokesman for the counter-Daesh coalition in Baghdad Army Col. Steve Warren said Monday Daesh members in Mosul are about 5,000 militants.

Daesh militants continue to field about 20,000 to 30,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, and they hold key Iraqi cities of Mosul and Ramadi, and large portions of Syria, The US Today quoted Warren as telling reporters.

He said that defections of Daesh militants — a closely watched measure by officials of US-led coalition — have begun to thin the ranks of the militants in Iraq in the last month.

Wholesale defections, sparsely manned checkpoints and elite foreign fighters pressed into mundane duty indicate that the US-led bombing campaign and advances by Kurdish forces are eroding the forces of Daesh, he added.

Meanwhile, head of the Iraqi parliament's defense and security committee Hakim al Zamili warned that the Iraqi forces would fight any foreign forces Any foreign power trying to interfere in Iraq exactly as they are fighting Daesh.

Sources: MENA