The most powerful photos of the battle against Isis in Syria and Iraq

US President Donald Trump's administration is hosting officials from the 68-nation coalition formed to take on Isis. The jihadist group, which declared a caliphate across large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, has lost much territory and many fighters as it comes under attack from the US-backed Iraqi offensive in Iraq and three separate ground forces in Syria.

Iraqi troops have recaptured most of Mosul, the largest city to be taken by the group and the base from which its leader proclaimed the caliphate. In Syria, the group has lost Palmyra and its main stronghold, Raqqa, is surrounded. IBTimes UK looks at the progress of the fight against Isis in both Syria and Iraq this year.

The battle for Mosul is entering its sixth month with Iraq forces backed by a US-led coalition air strikes and advisers now controlling the east of the city and more than half of the west. Fighting is focused on capturing the strategic Al Nuri mosque in the Old City, where Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate in July 2014 after the militants had seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. As many as 600,000 civilians remain in the western sector of Mosul.

Islamic State is losing ground to three separate campaigns in northern Syria – by the SDF, by the Russian-backed Syrian army and by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia as well as Arab groups, is fighting to isolate Raqqa ahead of an anticipated assault on the city, which Isis has used as a command node to plan attacks abroad.

The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains east of Aleppo recently, edging toward the provincial border with Raqqa. The head of the YPG militia said that the offensive to retake Raqqa would begin in early April, but a spokesman for the Pentagon said no decision had yet been made.