The United States-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State said Wednesday that less than 1,000 militants remain in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement to Reuters, a coalition representative stated that the final jihadist fighters were being “hunted down” in both countries.

“Due to the commitment of the Coalition and the demonstrated competence of our partners in Iraq and Syria, there are estimated to be less than 1,000 ISIS terrorists in our combined joint area of operations, most of whom are being hunted down in the desert regions in eastern Syria and Western Iraq,” the statement said.

The number of estimated ISIS fighters has dropped significantly since Dec. 5 when 3,000 jihadists were believed to be in Iraq and Syria. At its peak two years ago, ISIS was thought to have more than 45,000 fighters in the region.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence, credited the Trump administration with the uptick in territorial gain against the terror group.

“The rules of engagement under the Obama administration were onerous. I mean what are we doing having individual target determination being conducted in the White House, which in some cases adds weeks and weeks,” said Deptula. “The limitations that were put on actually resulted in greater civilian casualties.”

Joshua Geltzer, the senior director for counterterrorism in President Barack Obama’s National Security Council, has pushed back against the criticism.

“This was a top priority from the early days of ISIS gaining the type of territorial safe haven in particular, there was recognition that safe havens for terrorist groups can mean terrorist plots that extend — not just into the region — but to Europe and conceivably into the United States,” said Geltzer.

Both Iraq and Syria have recently declared victory against ISIS after years of fighting. Russia, Syria’s main ally, also declared victory Wednesday and said its focus would now shift to defeating the Nursa Front, another Islamist group in the region.

Responding to questions on the potential of ISIS fighters escaping to surrounding countries, the coalition representative asserted that attempts were being made to “kill or capture” any additional fighters.

“We can tell you that we are working with our partners to kill or capture all remaining ISIS terrorists, to destroy their network and prevent their resurgence, and also to prevent them from escaping to bordering countries,” the representative said.

According to a report in The Times of London, thousands of ISIS fighters escaped from Syria to Turkey this year, increasing fears that the fleeing jihadists could unleash attacks across Europe.