US Military Campaign Against Islamic State Ramps Up
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
Published January 09, 2025 at 6:06pm ET
The U.S. military has waged a series of large strikes on the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria and Iraq over the past month in what appears to be an uptick in the decade-long campaign against the group -- operations punctuated by an Islamic State-inspired attack in New Orleans by an Army veteran on New Year's Day.
However, Pentagon officials and outside experts said the seemingly increased tempo in the campaign to snuff out the group, which began in 2014 with airstrikes in the two countries, is not an indication that the Islamic State is gaining strength but largely a downstream effect of the Russian departure from Syria after the ousting of former ruler Bashar Assad in December.
"When you saw the fall of Assad, you saw Russian assets further consolidate, which allowed U.S. Central Command to take actions in the Badiya desert and elsewhere where we hadn't previously done a significant amount of strikes," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/09/us-military-campaign-against-islamic-state-ramps.html
