A series of airstrikes has targeted several camps run by the Islamic State group in Syria in an operation the US military said will disrupt the extremists from conducting attacks in the region and beyond. The US Central Command said the airstrikes were conducted Friday, without specifying in which parts of Syria, the AP reports. About 900 American troops have been deployed in eastern Syria alongside the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that were instrumental in the fight against IS militants.
Despite their defeat, attacks by IS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past years, with scores of people killed or wounded. The Islamic State group seized territory at the height of its power and declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled in eastern Syria. The US military said the strikes will disrupt the ability of the Islamic State group to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against the US, its allies and partners, and civilians throughout the region and beyond. It said that battle damage assessments were underway and that there were no civilian casualties.
Last month, Iraq's military said Iraqi forces and American troops killed a senior IS commander who was wanted by the US, as well as several other prominent militants, per the AP. At its peak, the group ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom where it enforced its extreme interpretation of Islam, which included attacks on religious minority groups and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to be apostates.
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