US forces killed a leader of the Islamic State (IS) group and another member of the group in an attack in Syria, the US military said on Friday.
Washington has stepped up military action against the jihadist group since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government earlier this month, attacking areas that were protected by Syrian and Russian air defenses, which now control the country. Before the attack by the rebels.
The attack took place on Thursday in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, killing IS leader “Abu Yusuf” and another operative, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media, without providing further details about the two jihadists.
“This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to work with partners in the region to disrupt and undermine efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM said.
“The attack was carried out in an area previously controlled by the Syrian regime and the Russians,” it said.
The United States has carried out periodic strikes and raids over the years to help prevent IS’s resurgence, but has launched dozens of strikes since Assad’s fall.
On December 8 – the day rebels captured the capital, Damascus – Washington announced strikes on more than 75 IS targets, which CENTCOM said was aimed at ensuring “reconsolidation in central Syria”. “I don’t want to take advantage of the current situation.”
And on Monday, CENTCOM said U.S. forces killed 12 militants from the group in strikes “in former regime and Russian-controlled areas.”
The announcement of the latest attack came a day after the United States said it had doubled the number of troops it has deployed in Syria this year as part of the anti-IS fight.
The United States has said for years that it has about 900 troops in the country as part of international efforts against the jihadist group, which overran the country there and in neighboring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign. Many areas were captured. ,
But there are now “about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria” and have been for at least a few months, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters, adding that he had just received the updated figure.
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