The Washington Examiner reports: President Obama touted progress in the fight against the Islamic State in both Iraq and in Syria on the same day a cease-fire deal with Syrian rebels and the government went into effect.

“ISIL is entrenched, including urban areas. It uses innocent civilians as human shields,” Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday, using the favored White House acronym for the Islamic State. “Despite these challenges, I can report that we’re making progress. And this week, I directed my team to continue accelerating our campaign on all fronts.”

The group has “lost more than 40 percent of its areas it once controlled,” Obama said.

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