In the year since ISIS declared a caliphate across Syria and Iraq, ISIS has not only expanded its reach into new territory, but also defied an international military campaign against its brutal reign of militant Islamist extremism, NBC News reported. Since fighters bearing its black flag seized control of Mosul, Iraq, in early June 2014, the Sunni militants have conducted a lightning campaign across the desert in the face of a slack Iraqi army and even U.S.-led coalition airstrike campaign that has cost nearly $3 billion since then. "It's been a great year for ISIS," according to Matthew Henman, head of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center. The terror group has been "remarkably successful" over the past year and is "certainly stronger now than it was a year ago."
