Why ISIS is winning, and how to stop it

ISIS had a successful month, capturing Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria. But a CNN report notes taking a city and holding it are two different things.

Evidence from previous battles suggests that ISIS doesn't 'do' defense as well as offense, and it is still vastly outnumbered by Iraqi forces.

Here’s how ISIS works: military tactics and flexibility; discipline on the battlefields; commanders with experience and local knowledge, some who served in Saddam Hussein's military; and the art of 'misleading' the enemy, with complex diversionary attacks and mixed signals about its intentions pulling enemies this way and that.

Is Baghdas next? Few analysts expect an attack there, according to CNN. its numbers and the capital's vast Shia population would make it a mission impossible.

Read more from CNN.