Beginning in 2014, the Muslim extremist group ISIS started making headlines across the world. The group fed off the terror and disorder of the Syrian war and after gaining enough power, it slowly began to take over city after city in Iraq, much to the fear of the country’s residents. ISIS seemed to be taking over the war-torn nation, fulfilling its goal of setting up an Islamic State.

Things have changed since the world has turned the corner into 2015. Videos have surfaced from Iraq showing people partying, celebrating and setting off fireworks on New Year’s Eve due to a mandatory midnight curfew being revoked. Citizens of Baghdad claim this change occurred because people are finally rising up against ISIS’ iron grip on the nation.

Resident of Baghdad, Alia al-Taiee, told CNN she finally felt she could do something about ISIS because groups of volunteers are slowly forming and coming up with plans to fight the terrorist group. She claimed that not only are Muslims joining these groups, but Christians and Yazidis are as well. Al-Taiee stated that she hoped people from three different religious denominations coming together to fight would result in a feeling of unification in Iraq, beneficial to her cause.

Beyond Iraq’s borders, other nations have gone up in arms against ISIS. Military allies in Iran and forces from the United States have jointly carried out bombings in Syria and Iraq in efforts to destroy ISIS strongholds. Americans are even training Iraqi troops on effective war strategy and technique and hope to teach the same to Syrian rebels, thus increasing forces in the fight against this extremist organization.

U.S. and Iraqi military commanders have been talking about just when they should lead ground troops into cities occupied by ISIS, such as Mosul and Tikrit. The overall consensus is the spring of this year. Much to the joy of these commanders, people in Mosul claim there cannot be any more than a couple thousand members of ISIS within the city’s boundaries, potentially making raids far less complex and hazardous.

Many supporters of ISIS have actually been leaving the organization, saying it does not govern effectively and political weakness and corruption are around every corner.

ISIS has many things working against it in the beginning of 2015. While many believe it will never be entirely obliterated, they are still hopeful that enough power will be taken away from the group this year to allow citizens of the Middle East to live in less fear they have been for the last few months.