US Airstrikes against ISIS Camps in Syria Kill up to 35 ISIS Operatives
As these military clashes suggest, ISIS is not defeated, a message that Masoud Barzani conveyed in July, when he made a rare visit to Baghdad.
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) CENTCOM announced on Wednesday that it had carried out a series of airstrikes “against several known ISIS camps in Syria in the early evening of Oct. 28.”
The strikes hit “multiple ISIS locations in the Syrian desert,” according to the CENTCOM statement, as they targeted “multiple ISIS senior leaders.”
CENTCOM said that the strikes had killed “up to 35 ISIS operatives,” while “there were no indications of civilian casualties.”
The strikes appeared to take place in the Badiya desert in central and southern Syria, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
“The airstrikes will disrupt the ability of ISIS to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians, as well as U.S., allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” the CENTCOM statement explained.
“CENTCOM, alongside allies and partners in the region, will continue to aggressively degrade ISIS operational capabilities to ensure its enduring defeat,” the statement concluded.
The U.S. airstrikes on Monday against ISIS camps in Syria followed three major attacks on ISIS targets in Iraq earlier this month.
Those assaults were Iraqi-led and conducted jointly by Iraqi and Coalition forces. The first such assault took place on Oct. 14 in the Hamrin Mountains, south of Kirkuk, and it killed ISIS’s leader in Kirkuk.
The second assault occurred on Oct. 21 and killed the leader of ISIS in Iraq. Two U.S. troops were injured in that assault, although the anti-ISIS Coalition no longer has a combat role in Iraq. Rather, its mission is to provide advice and assistance to Iraqi forces.
A Pentagon spokesperson subsequently explained the apparent anomaly, saying that the two U.S. soldiers had been wounded “by an explosion, while assisting Iraqi forces in site exploitation.”
Read More: US Troops Injured in Raid that Killed ISIS Leader in Iraq
And yet a third raid followed on Oct. 24.
Read More: 3rd Major Raid Against ISIS in Iraq in 10 Days
Moreover, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command announced on Wednesday that two days before—on Oct. 28, the same day that the U.S. carried out its airstrikes against ISIS in Syria—Iraqi fighter jets, U.S. manufactured F-16’s, struck ISIS targets in the Hamrin Mountains.
In addition, on Oct. 25, Iraqi fighter jets attacked key ISIS hideouts in the Kurdistan Region’s independent administration of Garmiyan in the area between Kifri and Tuz Khurmatu.
Read More: Iraqi F-16 airstrikes target eight ISIS members in Kirkuk province
ISIS Not Defeated
After Iraqi President Mohammed Shi’a al-Sudani assumed office in October 2022, bringing the presence of the anti-ISIS Coalition in Iraq to an end was a high priority for his new government.
In part, that was driven by pressures from Iran and its proxies in Iraq, who seek to reduce the U.S. presence in the region. But, in addition, the anti-ISIS Coalition has been in the country for a decade, and one might well think that in that time, ISIS has been defeated.
But as suggested by the military clashes described above, ISIS is not defeated. Indeed, that was the message that the long-time Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani, now head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), conveyed in July, when he made a rare visit to Baghdad.
Indeed, it was Barzani’s first trip to the Iraqi capital in six years, its rarity underscoring the significance of his visit.
In a crowded schedule that included meetings with key Iraqi figures, Barzani also saw ambassadors from seven countries, including the U.S., while he met with eight Arab envoys in a group meeting,
A central topic on Barzani’s agenda was to explain the importance of a continued Coalition presence in Iraq. It was vital to ensuring Iraq's stability and promoting its national interests, Barzani told the diplomats in Baghdad.
Read More: US Envoy Lauds Meeting with Masoud Barzani
The U.S. and Iraq did reach an agreement last month on ending the presence of the anti-ISISi Coalition in Iraq—and transitioning to a bilateral security agreement. That would apply to most of Iraqi territory by September 2025. However, the presence of the anti-ISIS Coalition in the Kurdistan Region would continue for another year beyond that.
Notably, the agreement is not about terminating the military presence of the U.S. and other major parties in the anti-ISIS Coalition. Rather it is about transitioning to bilateral security ties, based on understandings between Baghdad and each country with troops in Iraq.