On December 16, the US military launched a second round of strikes against Islamic State personnel and infrastructure in Syria since the fall of the regime of Bashir al Assad on December 8. US operations against the Islamic State are designed to degrade the terror group after the collapse of the Syrian Arab Army left a security void in central Syria.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the series of strikes targeted “known ISIS camps and operatives in Syria” and were intended to “disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, preventing the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek opportunities to reconstitute in central Syria.”
The airstrikes took place “in former Regime and Russian controlled areas,” according to CENTCOM, which stated 12 Islamic State operatives were killed.
CENTCOM previously launched a series of attacks against the Islamic State on December 8, the day that Hayat Tahrir al Sham, an Al Qaeda-linked terror group, led the charge to oust Assad. During that operation, the US Air Force sortied B-52 bombers, F-15 fighters, and A-10 ground attack aircraft to hit more than 75 targets including “ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps.”
Beyond being intended to prevent the Islamic State’s regeneration and impair its ability to project power outside of Syria, the strikes also aim to protect US allies in northern and eastern Syria, primarily the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF, an alliance that the United States helped create and has supported to battle the Islamic State, is led by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the US also lists as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The SDF controls areas north and east of the Euphrates River, a traditional line of support for jihadist groups operating in Iraq and Syria.
The Islamic State can exploit a void with the collapse of the Syrian Arab Army
The US military launched Operation Inherent Resolve over 10 years ago in June of 2014 as the Islamic State, led by its founder and first emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, declared its caliphate and took over vast areas in Iraq and Syria. In Iraq, the US military teamed up with the Iraqi Army as well as Iranian-backed Shia militias to drive the Islamic State from cities, including Ramadi and Mosul, the declared capital of the Islamic State’s caliphate, and towns in the provinces of Anbar, Ninewa, and Salahuddin. In Syria, the US worked with the Syrian Democratic Forces to drive the Islamic State from vast areas of northern and eastern Syria, including the cities of Raqqa, Deir ez Zor, and Hasaka. In 2019, the Islamic State lost its last major town in Syria, Baghuz, on the border with Iraq along the Euphrates River.
Despite the Islamic State’s loss of its physical caliphate in 2019, the terror group still has a significant presence in Syria. As of July 2024, the United Nations Security Council Analytic Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team estimated the group’s strength at 1,500 to 3,000 fighters, while reporting that “most of ISIL [the Islamic State] senior leadership remain in the Syrian Arab Republic.”
The UN Monitoring Team notes that the Islamic State has a significant presence in Badia, a desert area in central Syria near the city of Palmyra. During the spring of 2024, the Islamic State and Assad’s Syrian Arab Army clashed numerous times. With the fall of the Assad regime and the collapse of the Syrian Arab Army, the Islamic State has little opposition in central Syria and could expand its operations against the SDF.
