US military says they struck over 30 Islamic State group targets in Syria

Damascus, Syria - The US military said Saturday that its forces had struck more than 30 Islamic State group targets in Syria this month, maintaining pressure on the jihadists after a deadly attack on US troops last year.

Boys along a road wave to an approaching US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moving in a convoy transporting Islamic State group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on February 7, 2026.  © DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP

The strikes also came as the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in recent weeks transferred thousands of IS detainees from Syria to Iraq, after they had been held in prisons run for years by Kurdish-led forces.

US forces "conducted 10 strikes against more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria... to sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network," a CENTCOM statement said, using another acronym for IS.

The air strikes, carried out between February 3 and February 12, hit IS "infrastructure and weapons storage targets," it said.

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The forces additionally conducted "five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities" between January 27 and February 2, the statement said.

Washington has blamed an IS fighter for ambushing and killing two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter in Palmyra on December 13.

Syria's interior ministry has said the IS gunman was a member of the security forces who had been set to be fired for extremism.

The US launched Operation Hawkeye Strike in response to the attack.

"More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations," the CENTCOM statement added.

On Friday, CENTCOM said it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 detained IS suspects, from 61 countries, from Syria to Iraq.

The operation began last month as Damascus's capture of territory surrounding the prisons from Kurdish-led forces sparked questions over the fate of the IS prisoners, prompting Washington to step in.

Alongside the US-led anti-IS coalition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces spearheaded the battle that led to the jihadist group's territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

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Washington has, however, drawn close to Syria's new authorities, recently saying the purpose of its alliance with the Kurdish forces was largely over.

As Damascus seeks to extend its control over all of Syria, US forces confirmed on Thursday their withdrawal from Al-Tanf base near Syria's border with Jordan and Iraq.

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