The massive airstrikes of USA about the insurgents of the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria They were partly intended to send a message to the group and ensure that they did not try to take advantage of the chaos following the overthrow of the regime. Bashar al Assad.
The United States and its partners want to ensure that the Islamic State, which still has a presence in Syria, cannot fill the leadership vacuum and regain control over large areas of the country, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday. Sabrina Singh. The United States attacked around 75 targets in the Islamic State in the Syrian desert.
The United States has had troops in Syria for the past decade to combat the extremist group also known by the acronym ISIS. The tumult following a rebel offensive that toppled Assad has raised fears of a resurgence of the Islamic State.
“ISIS will try to use this period to restore its capabilities, to create safe havens,” the Secretary of State said on Monday, Antony Blinken. “As our precision strikes over the weekend demonstrate, we are determined to prevent that from happening.”
So far, U.S. officials have said they do not plan an increase in American forces in Syria, but they are focused on making sure those already there are safe.
Here’s a look at America’s fight against the Islamic State group:
The United States has about 900 troops and an undisclosed number of contractors in Syria, mostly at small bases in the north and east, and a small number further south in the enclave of al-Tanfcloser to the borders of Iraq and Jordan.
U.S. special forces also routinely move in and out of the country, but usually in small teams and are not included in the official count.
Islamic State insurgents seized large parts of Irak y Syria in 2014, and declared a caliphate. A US-led coalition managed to defeat ISIS in Iraq in 2017. The US partnered with the Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS), led by the Kurds, and after intense fighting, and the end of the caliphate in Syria was declared in 2019.
Remnants of the militant group still remain, including up to 10,000 fighters detained in SDF-run facilities in Syria and thousands of their relatives living in refugee camps.
Furthermore, the ISIS fighters They have been more active over the past year or more, including in attacks on US and Kurdish forces in Syria.
The country has been devastated by violence and competing interests. Russia has a naval port in the north, and although there have been fewer Russian forces in the area since the start of the war in Ukraine, Washington maintains a telephone line with Moscow to avoid any miscalculation of troops on the ground or in the air.
Iran has also had a significant presence and often uses Syria as a transit route to move weapons to Lebanon destined for the political-paramilitary group Hezbollah, an enemy of Israel.
The al-Tanf enclave in southeastern Syria is located on a vital highway capable of carrying forces backed by the Iranian regime from Tehran to southern Lebanon and to the gates of Israel. That is why troops in the US military enclave seek to thwart such shipments.
Over the past decade, the United States has targeted ISIS leaders, camps and weapons in Syria to keep the group at bay and prevent it from rising again.
In the last year, while Israel’s war with Hamas expanded to a broader conflict with Hezbollah In Lebanon, attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Islamic State, have escalated.
As a result, the United States has maintained a steady pace of counterattacks against all groups, including against ISIS camps in the desert, where fighters found safe haven.
Officials say that although the group is much weaker than in 2014, it still maintains thousands of insurgents in Syria.
On Sunday, the United States launched one of its largest and most expansive assaults against ISIS camps and operatives in the desert, taking advantage of the fall of the Assad regime. Attacked at least 75 targets in about five locations using B-52 bombers, A-10 attack aircraft y F-15 fighters.
“Send a message? Absolutely, it sends a message that we use B-52s, A-10s and F-15s,” Singh, the Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters. He had no further details about the outcome of the attacks.
The president’s administration Joe Biden insists that the United States will not get involved in the Syrian war or the overthrow of the Assad regime. But Washington and its allies have deep interests in Syria, including efforts to defeat ISIS, thwart Iranian-backed groups and contain the remnants of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that have found sanctuary.
“I think it’s a harbinger of more instability and the potential for more political violence,” said Chris Costa, former senior director of counterterrorism in the first administration of Donald Trumplast week before fall of Damascus. Costa spent decades in the United States Army and led special operations in combat zones. “I think there is potential for ISIS to again cause problems not only for Iraqis, but also to be emboldened in the region.”
Alex Youngerformer head of the agency British intelligence MI6said that a major concern is the “very large number of ISIS detainees left behind after the destruction of the caliphate.”
Younger told the BBC that the remnants of the Islamic State are “currently contained by Kurdish groups in the east, but if they give up the job, you can expect a serious increase in the threat that ISIS poses to Europe.”
Another problem is figuring out who is in charge.
The opposition forces that stormed Damascus and caused Assad to flee to Russia are led by a group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was originally part of Al Qaeda, but split several years ago. The United States and the United Nations consider HTS a foreign terrorist organization.
Your leader Ahmad al-Sharaaformerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolanihas sought to assure Syrians that the group is more moderate. U.S. officials say that while he may be telling some truths, for now they prefer to observe.
White House national security spokesman John Kirbyhe said to CNN News Central on Monday that although the HTS “was at the forefront,” they were not the only opposition group involved.
“We are going to work through every process we can, including at the UN, to make sure that there is adequate communication with these opposition groups and that we are all working together,” he said.
Singh added that he was not aware of any formal channels of US communications with the group. But, the Pentagon spokeswoman said, “we have other ways to get messages through groups and other allies in the region.”
(With information from AP)
