From January to June 2024, ISIS has claimed 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria, indicating an attempt to reconstitute following years of decreased capability. At this rate, ISIS is on pace to more than double the total number of attacks they claimed in 2023.
To counter this resurgence, United States Central Command, along with Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, conducted 196 Defeat ISIS Missions in the first half of 2024. These operations resulted in 44 ISIS operatives killed and 166 detained. In Iraq, 137 operations led to 30 ISIS operatives killed and 74 detained, while in Syria, 59 operations resulted in 14 operatives killed and 92 detained.
These missions led to the elimination of eight senior ISIS leaders and the capture of 32, significantly disrupting ISIS’s capacity to plan and execute external operations. The ongoing pursuit of approximately 2,500 ISIS fighters across Iraq and Syria remains crucial to the enduring defeat of ISIS. Equally important are the international efforts to repatriate over 9,000 ISIS detainees and rehabilitate and reintegrate more than 43,000 individuals from the Al Hol and Al Roj camps.
“The global enduring defeat of ISIS relies on combined efforts of the Coalition and partners to remove key leaders from the battlefield and the repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of families from Al Hol and Al Roj,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command. “We continue to focus our efforts on specifically targeting those members of ISIS who are seeking to conduct external operations outside of Iraq and Syria and those ISIS members attempting to break out ISIS members in detention in an attempt to reconstitute their forces.”–News Desk