The US military said on Saturday it had carried out strikes on more than 30 Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria this month, continuing efforts to pressure the militants after a deadly attack on US troops last year, AFP reported.
The operations coincided with recent efforts by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) to transfer thousands of IS detainees from Syria to Iraq. The individuals had previously been held for years in prisons run by Kurdish forces, the report said.
US forces “conducted 10 strikes against more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria … to maintain relentless military pressure on remnants of the terrorist network,” CENTCOM said in a statement, using a different acronym for IS.
The airstrikes, carried out between February 3 and February 12, hit IS “infrastructure targets and weapons storage”, the agency said.
In addition, the force carried out “five strikes against an ISIS communications post, a critical logistics hub and a weapons storage facility” between January 27 and February 2, the statement said.
Washington attributed the Dec. 13 ambush in Palmyra, which killed two American soldiers and an American civilian interpreter, to an Islamic State fighter.
Syria’s interior ministry said the IS gunman was part of the security forces and was due to be released due to extremist views.
In response, the US conducted Operation Hawkeye Strike.
“During two months of targeted operations, more than 50 ISIS terrorists were killed or captured, and more than 100 targets in ISIS infrastructure were hit with hundreds of precision munitions,” the CENTCOM statement added, AFP reported.
On Friday, CENTCOM announced it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 detained Islamic State suspects from 61 countries from Syria to Iraq.
The operation began last month after Damascus regained control of territory around the prisons from Kurdish-led forces, raising concerns about the fate of IS prisoners and prompting US intervention.
The 2019 territorial defeat of the jihadist group in Syria was led by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces along with the US-led anti-IS coalition.
But Washington has drawn closer to the new Syrian authorities and recently said the purpose of its alliance with Kurdish forces is largely over, AFP reported.
As Damascus seeks to expand its control over all of Syria, US forces on Thursday confirmed their withdrawal from the Al-Tanf base near Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq.