WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 25 members of the Islamic State group were killed or captured in an ambush in Syria this month that killed two U.S. troops and a U.S. civilian translator, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
The U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for Middle East affairs, said in a statement on
U.S. Central Command said that in subsequent operations, U.S. troops and other forces from the region, including Syria, killed at least seven “Islamic State” members, captured others, and cleared four weapons caches.
“We will not let up,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the command, said in a statement. “We are deeply committed to working with regional partners to eradicate the threat ISIS poses to U.S. and regional security.”
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, said targets ranged from senior Islamic State members who are closely monitored by the military to low-level infantry soldiers.
The official said growing cooperation between the United States and Syria’s relatively new government meant U.S. forces were able to attack the Islamic State group in areas of the country where it had not previously operated. The official added that the Syrian army was the driving force behind some operations this year against the militant group.
The official compared the two countries’ growing cooperation to the cooperation between the United States and Iraq a decade ago in the fight against the Islamic State and said that, like Iraq, the goal is to eventually hand over the effort entirely to the Syrians.
The latest operation followed a Dec. 13 ambush near the ancient city of Palmyra, where U.S. and Syrian security officials were meeting over lunch. Two Iowa National Guard members and a civilian translator from Michigan were killed, and three other members of the U.S. military and Syrian security forces were wounded.
Syrian officials said the slain gunman had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard and was recently reassigned amid suspicions he might have ties to the Islamic State.
The initial retaliatory strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria included fighter jets from Jordan, a major test of warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad last year.
President Donald Trump said Syria’s new president, Ahmed Shala, was “very angry and upset by this attack.”