US Airstrikes Target Multiple ISIS Camps in Syria

US soldiers are seen during a joint military exercise between US-led forces and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. (AFP)
US soldiers are seen during a joint military exercise between US-led forces and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. (AFP)
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US Airstrikes Target Multiple ISIS Camps in Syria

US soldiers are seen during a joint military exercise between US-led forces and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. (AFP)
US soldiers are seen during a joint military exercise between US-led forces and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. (AFP)

A series of US airstrikes targeted several camps run by ISIS in Syria in an operation the US military said will disrupt the extremists from conducting attacks in the region and beyond.

The US Central Command said the airstrikes were conducted Friday, without specifying in which parts of Syria. About 900 US troops have been deployed in eastern Syria alongside the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that were instrumental in the fight against ISIS militants.

Despite their defeat, attacks by ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past years, with scores of people killed or wounded.

ISIS seized territory at the height of its power and declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled in eastern Syria.

The US military said the strikes will disrupt the ability of the ISIS group to plan, organize and conduct attacks against the United States, its allies and partners, and civilians throughout the region and beyond.

It said battle damage assessments were underway and there were no civilian casualties.

Last month, Iraq’s military said that Iraqi forces and American troops killed a senior ISIS commander who was wanted by the United States, as well as several other prominent militants.



Israel Continues Ground Operation in South Lebanon with Incursion in Shebaa

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Khiam on October 13, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Khiam on October 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Continues Ground Operation in South Lebanon with Incursion in Shebaa

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Khiam on October 13, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Khiam on October 13, 2024. (AFP)

Israel opened on Tuesday a new front in southern Lebanon in the Shebaa Farms in the east. Israel is already operating in the eastern sector, where it is trying to advance in border villages, and the western sector, where it is engaged in heavy fighting with Hezbollah on the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab.

Israel radio said the Fifth Brigade has joined the ground operations in the South, carrying out a limited incursion in Shebaa.

Shebaa is located on the foothills of Jabal al-Sheikh mountain and extends to the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The Lebanese government says Israel has been occupying Shebaa, as well as the Kfar Shouba Hills and northern sections of the village of Ghajar, since 1976.

Hezbollah had kicked off his “support front” with Hamas in Gaza in October 2023 by launching attacks on Israeli military positions in Shebaa.

Military experts say that Shebaa’s elevated position protects it from sophisticated attacks. This is especially true for the Arqoub region, which is predominantly Sunni and Druze. Hezbollah has been targeting the area with rockets daily since the beginning of the conflict.

The experts added that the elevation facilitates ground offensives from Israel. Its barren terrain also makes it difficult for Hezbollah to take position there as there is no vegetation in which its fighters can hide.

The position can also be a weakness for the Israeli forces because their military vehicles are exposed to rocket fire from Lebanon, they added.

By opening the Shebaa front, Israeli forces would now be operating along the entire southern border with Lebanon, stretching around 100 kms.

The experts believe that the incursion is an attempt to make up for Israeli forces’ failures in advancing in Kfar Kila and al-Adaisseh, and that they are trying to reach the town of al-Khiam, which had come under heavy raids in recent days.