US Central Command said in a press release on Tuesday that it conducted 38 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in May, killing eight alleged ISIS “operatives” and detaining 31 more.
The command said that all the operations were launched with partners, referring to the Kurdish-led SDF in Syria and the Baghdad-based government in Iraq. CENTCOM said it was involved in 21 partnered operations in Iraq and 17 in Syria.
In Iraq, the command claimed 11 alleged ISIS operatives were detained, and six were killed. In Syria, 20 alleged ISIS operatives were detained, and two were killed. CENTCOM did not offer an assessment of potential harm to civilians in the operations, and the Pentagon is notorious for undercounting civilian casualties.
Also in May, CENTCOM launched a drone strike in northwest Syria that killed Lotfi Hassan Misto, a 56-year-old father of 10 with no connections to militant organizations who was targeted while herding his sheep. CENTCOM initially claimed that the strike killed a senior al-Qaeda figure, but it was later revealed the command had no evidence to back up the claim.
While the US is active in operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the terror group no longer holds any significant territory in either country. The US uses the missions against ISIS to justify its continued presence in the region, including its occupation of eastern Syria.
The US occupation of Syria is part of its economic campaign against the country, which involves crippling economic sanctions that are specifically designed to prevent Syria’s reconstruction. The US recently slapped new sanctions on Syria, likely a response to the country being brought back into the Arab League as the US opposes regional countries normalizing with Damascus.
Source: AntiWar.
