“These operations degraded ISIS and removed a cadre of senior leaders from the battlefield, to include the emir of ISIS and dozens of regional leaders,” said CENTCOM in their end of year update on the mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
According to the report, a total of 122 operations were conducted against ISIS is Syria throughout the year, killing 466 ISIS operatives and detaining 215 others. As for Iraq, a total of 191 operations resulted in 220 operatives killed and 159 others detained.
“No US forces were injured or killed in these operations,” it added.
CENTCOM End Of Year Update on Defeat-ISIS Operations pic.twitter.com/ixkq1oTRlp
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 29, 2022
The yearly review lauded the role of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Iraqi security forces in “ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
"The emerging, reliable and steady ability of our Iraqi and Syrian partner forces to conduct unilateral operations to capture and kill ISIS leaders allows us to maintain steady pressure on the ISIS network," the report cited Major General Matt McFarlane, commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, as saying.
The US security relationship with Iraq fully transitioned into an advising and assisting role in December 2021, but the US forces to carry out unilateral operations against ISIS in Syria.
ISIS in November announced the death of the group’s leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, saying he had been killed while combatting “the enemies of Allah,” without elaborating when and where he died.
There are currently over 10,000 ISIS militants held in detentions facilities throughout Syria, and more than 20,000 held in facilities in Iraq, according to the update.
CENTCOM commander General Michael "Erik" Kurilla stated there are over 25,000 children in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) notorious al-Hol who are “prime targets for ISIS radicalization,” calling on the international community to repatriate and rehabilitate the children, as it is “the only viable long-term solution.”
“The international community must work together to remove these children from this environment by repatriating them to their countries or communities of origin while improving conditions in the camp," the yearly review cited Kurilla as saying.
ISIS rose to power across swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014 but it was territorially defeated five years later. Despite the group being devoid of any territorial control, it continues to pose security risks through kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings in the both countries.
The SDF arrested thousands of ISIS fighters and their wives and children when they took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019.
Housing over 50,000 ISIS affiliates, al-Hol camp has been branded a breeding ground for the militant group and described as a "ticking time bomb" by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities.
