“The combined operation destroyed over 130 mortars and rockets, multiple assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, and materials for building improvised explosive devices,” CENTCOM said.
The US military said on Sunday that it recently destroyed 15 sites containing Islamic State (ISIS) weapon caches in southern Syria.
US Central Command said it and Syrian forces identified and destroyed the storage facilities across the Rif Damashq province during multiple airstrikes and ground detonations that were conducted from November 24 to November 27.
“The combined operation destroyed over 130 mortars and rockets, multiple assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, and materials for building improvised explosive devices,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), and Jared Kushner, during a press conference following a military briefing at the Civilian Military Coordination Center in southern Israel on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (credit: Nathan Howard/Pool via REUTERS)
Islamic State, the terrorist group that once imposed hardline Islamist rule over millions of people in Syria and Iraq, was largely crushed by a US-led coalition several years ago, but has managed to rebuild and regroup.
CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said that this operation “ensures gains made against ISIS are lasting and the group is not able to regenerate or export terrorist attacks to the US homeland and around the world.”
Syrian Democratic Forces target ISIS in northern Syria
The Syrian Democratic Forces said on November 20 that their forces were engaging several sites that ISIS members used to launch drones at them in the Ghanem al-Ali desert east of Raqqa, in the northern part of the country.
“The area has been subjected to a series of attacks by factions affiliated with the Damascus Government, coinciding with ISIS activity, as the organization effectively used those same locations to carry out its terrorist assaults,” the militia said, adding that they have footage of the terrorist group using these points as drone-launch sites. They said that this footage confirms coordination between several factions in Syria’s government and ISIS terrorists in targeting SDF positions.
Earlier in November, CENTCOM said its forces assisted and enabled over 22 operations against ISIS, in which five members of the group were killed and 19 captured.
“We will continue to aggressively pursue ISIS remnants in Syria while working with the Global Coalition Against ISIS to ensure the gains made against the group in Iraq and Syria are lasting, and ISIS is not able to regenerate or export terrorist attacks to other countries,” Adm. Cooper said.
Syria recently signed a political cooperation declaration with the Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State and has been carrying out nationwide pre-emptive operations against the group.
US preparing to establish military presence at airbase in Damascus
The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in early November.
The US plans for the presence in the Syrian capital would be a sign of Syria’s strategic realignment with the US following the fall last year of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran.
This is a developing story.