ISIS can be defeated in a matter of days: ex-Israel Prime Minister

JERUSALEM: The dreaded militant group Islamic State (ISIS) is not that strong and it is possible to destroy them in a matter of days as they have never fought a real battle, Israel's former prime minister Ehud Barak has said.

Arguing that ISIS has "never fought a real battle", 73-year-old Barak in an interview yesterday to the Russian news channel RT said, "I think that ISIS is successful to a certain extent because they are not facing a concentrated effort to destroy the organisation".

"Technically they aren't that strong. They are made up of only about 30-40 thousand people," the Israeli soldier who also served as defence minister for six years said.

"Basically, what they faced in Ramadi (a town in central Iraq that was occupied by ISIS) and elsewhere in Iraq are armies that don't want to fight. When an army doesn't want to fight, you don't need much experience to win," he added.

"ISIS has never fought a real battle," Barak, who was also the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff said.

Islamic State militants said they had taken full control of Ramadi in May in what is being seen as the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer.