article_snippet: As ISIS fighters in the area probably number in the low thousands, it might seem odd that the Iraqi army is unable to take the Iraqi army on alone.
article_snippet: So just why are the Iraqi Security Forces
article_snippet: (ISF incapable of reclaiming territory seized by ISIS?
article_snippet: And how long will it be before the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF can stand on the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF own feet?
article_snippet: But as Harmer notes, "the Iraqi Security Forces are yet to go head-to-head with ISIS and win without help from the PMUs.
article_snippet: ISIS is demonstrably more capable than the ISF.
article_snippet: Clearing ISIS from well-entrenched defenses around Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, seems well beyond the army's capability.