The United States announced today that it had detained a leader of the "Islamic State" (IS) during operations carried out in late May in Iraq and Syria, within the framework of the international coalition against the jihadist group, reported Agence France-Presse.
The US military supported six operations, five in Iraq and one in Syria, as a result of which two jihadists were killed and two people were detained, "including a leader of IS" in Iraq, the US military command for the Middle East (CENTCOM) announced, without specifying the identity of the latter.
These operations were carried out by the US partners, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Iraqi army, added CENTCOM on the social network “Ex“.
IS, which controlled vast territories in both countries, was defeated in 2017 in Iraq and in 2019 in Syria.
After its rapid expansion in 2014 in both countries, the jihadist group experienced the collapse of its self-proclaimed “caliphate“ in the successive offensives by the international coalition and the military intervention of Russia on the side of the government of Bashar Assad in Syria.
In Iraq, jihadist cells continue to sporadically attack the army and police, but these attacks are becoming increasingly rare and are carried out mainly in rural and remote areas.
IS cells also remain active in Syria, where they carry out attacks against Kurdish-led forces in the northern part of the country, AFP reports.