ISIL has recently lost control of several areas in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Let's look at Syria first---the red area on map. A monitoring group says more than 20 people have been killed by air strikes in the northwestern city of Idlib. It did not know whether Syrian or Russian jets carried out the strikes.

Idlib is controlled by Syrian rebel groups that include the al-Qaeda local branch, the Nusra Front. US-backed forces in northern Syria have also intensified a siege on Manbij, one of ISIL's largest strongholds in Aleppo province, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.