US airstrike takes out two ISIS fighters in Syria, destroys truckload of weapons

The United States military launched air strikes against militant facilities in Syria, eliminating two members of the ISIS terrorist group.

“On Dec. 23, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province, Syria, killing two ISIS operatives and wounding one,” Caliber.Az reports via CENTCOM’s X page.

The publication clarified: “The terrorists were moving a truckload of weapons which were destroyed during the strike. This strike occurred in an area formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians.”

The American side also points out that “this airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.”

To recall, in a related incident, on December 19, the CENTCOM forces conducted an airstrike that killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif in eastern Syria. One other ISIS operative was also killed in the strike.

In general, the US has stepped up its battle against ISIS in Syria as it seeks to prevent the group exploiting a power vacuum after rebels toppled the Assad regime, launching some of its heaviest air strikes against the jihadis in years.

Syria was once part of Isis’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” and is home to several thousand jihadi fighters, prisons for captured militants and camps that house more than 40,000 Isis-related individuals and family members.

International coalitions have significantly weakened ISIS since the jihadis launched a blitz across Iraq and Syria a decade ago and seized a swath of land about the size of Britain. The group was driven from its remaining territorial strongholds in 2019 and now operates in a network of cells, as well as through offshoots across Asia and Africa.

By Khagan Isayev