Ahead of his U.S. visit, Syrian President al-Sharaa orders nationwide raids on Islamic State cells, arresting 71 suspects. [Getty]
Syria has carried out nationwide pre-emptive operations targeting Islamic State cells, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized, the spokesperson told state-run Al Ekhbariya TV.
The raids come ahead of a trip by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and join an anti Islamic State U.S.-led coalition.
Since rebel forces he led ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad last December, al-Sharaa — who cut ties with al-Qaeda years earlier — has gone on a largely successful charm offensive to establish new ties with countries that had shunned Assad’s government after its brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011 spiraled into a 14-year civil war.
Al-Sharaa met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia in May, where Trump announced that he would lift decades of sanctions.
The U.S. State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to the latest reports.
Washington is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that the U.S. is brokering between Syria and Israel, six sources familiar with the matter previously told news agency Reuters.
A U.S. administration official also previously said that Washington was constantly evaluating its necessary posture in Syria to effectively combat Islamic State.