Over 30 ISIS operatives detained in Iraq, Syria in May: CENTCOM

ERBIL, Kurdistan - United States-led coalition and local forces carried out 38 operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria in May, resulting in eight militants killed and over 30 detained, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday evening.

In its monthly review of anti-ISIS operations, CENTCOM said eight militants had been killed and 31 detained as a result of joint operations between the coalition and their Iraqi and Syrian partners. 

“Our partner forces continue to demonstrate the capability, capacity, and competence to maintain the enduring defeat of ISIS," Major General Matt McFarlane, commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, said in the statement. 

"The Coalition continues to Advise, Assist, and Enable our partners to keep pressure on ISIS and prevent them from re-establishing any type of network or effective military effort,” he added. 

In Iraq, 21 joint operations were carried out, resulting in the arrest of 11 ISIS members while six others were killed. Two were killed and 20 were detained in the 17 operations in Syria. 

“Despite their degraded capability, ISIS remains a significant threat within the region,” General Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, warned. “CENTCOM, along with our partners, is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

The coalition advises and provides aerial assistance to Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army as well as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS. The SDF have carried out a string of raids on ISIS in northeast Syria (Rojava), in coordination with the global coalition.

“Iraqi security forces are leading the fight, and the United States and a global coalition are supporting them to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Vedant Patel, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson, told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Together, Iraq, the United States, our coalition partners have freed millions of Iraqis from ISIS’s campaign,” he added. 

ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014 but was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019. While the group lacks any territorial presence on the ground, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions in both countries.