US, Syrian Forces Conduct Airstrikes on ISIL

According to U.S. Central Command, American and Syrian forces located and eliminated the caches across the Rif Damashq province through a series of airstrikes and controlled ground detonations carried out between Nov. 24 and 27.

The operation wiped out more than 130 mortars and rockets, along with assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines and materials used to produce improvised explosive devices, CENTCOM said.

ISIL terrorist organization, which once ruled large territories in Syria and Iraq under its extremist ideology, was largely defeated by a U.S.-led coalition years ago but continues efforts to rebuild its presence.

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the mission helps ensure that progress made against ISIL “remains enduring.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, after meeting on Nov. 10 with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa — a former al-Qaida figure previously sanctioned by Washington as a foreign terrorist — pledged to do all he could to support stability in Syria. 

In the days before the Washington talks, Syrian authorities said they had launched nationwide pre-emptive raids against ISIL cells. One of Sharaa’s key objectives during the meeting with Trump was to secure the lifting of the most severe U.S. sanctions on Damascus.

During the talks, the U.S. Treasury Department extended for 180 days its freeze on enforcing the Caesar Act sanctions, though only Congress has the authority to revoke them completely.