{"id":194430,"date":"2025-12-20T06:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/194430\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T06:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:48:15","slug":"us-highlights-anti-islamic-state-operations-after-soldiers-killed-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/194430\/","title":{"rendered":"US highlights anti-Islamic State operations after soldiers killed in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Syrian Internal Security Forces arrest a \u201cDaesh[Islamic State]-linked person in [the] Dummar neighborhood\u201d of Damascus on December 17. (Syrian Arab News Agency on X<\/a>) <\/p>\n

On December 17, US Central Command (CENTCOM) provided new information on operations against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. \u201cUS and partner forces in Syria have conducted nearly 80 operations since July to eliminate terrorist operatives, including ISIS [Islamic State] remnants, that posed a direct threat to the United States and interests abroad,\u201d the statement, posted on X, said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The details were published in the wake of the killing<\/a> of two US soldiers and an interpreter on December 13 in Syria by a member of the Syrian security forces, an attack Syrian authorities and the US have blamed<\/a> on the Islamic State. In the days after the attack, there have been a number of operations against the jihadist group and other armed groups in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n

US Central Command noted<\/a> in its December 17 post that \u201cISIS has inspired at least 11 plots or attacks against targets in the United States over the past year.\u201d The US has played a role in operations that have detained 119 terrorists and killed 14 terrorists over the last six months. In Syria, the US has partnered with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the eastern part of the country over the past decade during the war against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are steadfast in our relentless pursuit of terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our interests abroad,\u201d Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of CENTCOM, said. The statement noted that US personnel have also worked with the Syrian Ministry of Interior to raid 15 Islamic State sites as part of a new partnership with the Syrian government. \u201cThe combined operation destroyed over 130 mortars and rockets, multiple rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, and materials for building improvised explosive devices,\u201d CENTCOM\u2019s statement noted. \u201cWe will continue to work closely with our Syrian partners to hunt down ISIS networks and prevent their resurgence,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported<\/a> on December 17 that Syrian Internal Security Forces had arrested a person linked to the Islamic State. The arrest happened \u201cduring a security operation targeting one of the group\u2019s hideouts in the Dummar neighborhood of Damascus,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur security units, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate, carried out a precise operation targeting a hideout belonging to the ISIS terrorist organization in [the] Dummar neighborhood of Damascus, based on reliable intelligence information and accurate field data,\u201d Syrian Brigadier General Osama Mohammad Khair Atkeh told SANA. The Syrian security forces found explosive devices, weapons, drones, and other items during the raid.<\/p>\n

Despite being greatly diminished in the region, the Islamic State continues to pose a threat in Syria and Iraq. \u201cIraq\u2019s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) announced on Wednesday the arrest of six suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members and the destruction of several militant hideouts during coordinated security operations across the country,\u201d the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network reported<\/a> on December 17. The suspects were detained across a swath of Iraq, in Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Baghdad. The report added that the Iraqi CTS had cooperated with the \u201cKurdistan Region\u2019s Sulaimani-based Asayish Directorate of Operations and the Commando Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iraqi security forces also carried out a rare airborne raid into Syria in cooperation with the Syrian security forces, Iraq\u2019s government Security Media Cell, which provides details on security operations, said<\/a> on December 18. The force also coordinated with the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State. \u201cThe raid took place in a village in Syria\u2019s northeastern Hasaka province, near the Iraqi border. Iraqi authorities have not disclosed the nationality of the detainees or the charges filed against them,\u201d Rudaw noted<\/a>. <\/p>\n

According to North Press Agency, a US raid on December 18 targeted<\/a> an Islamic State operative near Raqqa. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed<\/a> that \u201cmembers of an ISIS cell and International Coalition Forces traded heavy gunfire during a raid on the house of one of the suspects\u201d during the incident. SOHR described<\/a> the Raqqa raid as \u201cthe second operation of its kind in less than 24 hours,\u201d linking this increased tempo of operations with the Iraqi cross-border operation in northeastern Hasaka. The sites of the two reported operations are approximately 150 miles apart.<\/p>\n

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD\u2019s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).<\/p>\n

Tags: centcom<\/a>, Iraq<\/a>, Islamic State<\/a>, Syria<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syrian Internal Security Forces arrest a \u201cDaesh[Islamic State]-linked person in [the] Dummar neighborhood\u201d of Damascus on December 17.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-194430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}