ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US military said on Thursday that an Islamic State (ISIS) leader was arrested and two operatives killed in numerous partnered operations with Iraqi forces late last month.
Five operations, carried out from May 21-27 with Iraqi forces in the northern Salahaddin and Kirkuk provinces, resulted in the “clearance and destruction of multiple locations, confiscation of small arms weapons and munitions, recovery of material for further exploitation, two ISIS operatives killed in action, and the capture of an ISIS leader,” the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Another operation in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – the US-led coalition’s main ally in the anti-ISIS fight in Syria – resulted in an ISIS operative being captured, according to the statement.
“Operations like these underscore the commitment of USCENTCOM, along with our allies and partners, to the enduring defeat of ISIS in the region,” said CENTCOM commander General Michael Erik Kurilla.
SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami lauded the cooperation between the Kurdish-led force and the coalition.
“The effective support provided by the international coalition forces to our forces has significantly contributed to the dismantling of numerous ISIS cells in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor. Our forces will continue their most effective operations against ISIS terrorism with support from our partners in the international coalition,” Shami said on X.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.”
While the group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq and Syria in 2017 and 2019 respectively, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert and several Iraqi provinces situated in a security vacuum between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The coalition advises and provides aerial assistance and equipment to Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army, as well as the Kurdish-led SDF in the fight against ISIS.
On Wednesday, a Sulaimani-based Kurdish counterterrorism operation partnered with coalition forces resulted in the arrest of several ISIS suspects near the Hamrin Mountains.
Three days prior, an SDF operation in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) captured an ISIS operative amid an escalation of ISIS attacks in the region.
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