Tag Archive for: u s central command

‘Never Relent’: Trump Admin Strikes ISIS Targets In Syria

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The Department of War (DOW) carried out airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday afternoon.

CENTCOM, a unified combatant command of the DOW, wrote in a statement posted to X it conducted “large-scale strikes against multiple ISIS targets across Syria” at about 12:30 p.m. EST “alongside partner forces.”

“The strikes today targeted ISIS throughout Syria as part of our ongoing commitment to root out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent future attacks, and protect American and partner forces in the region. U.S. and coalition forces remain resolute in pursuing terrorists who seek to harm the United States,” CENTCOM wrote.

“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” CENTCOM added.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth replied to CENTCOM’s statement on X, simply writing, “We will never forget, and never relent.”

The Saturday operation marked the second time in weeks the U.S. launched strikes against the radical Islamic terror group in Syria.

At President Donald Trump’s direction, CENTCOM launched strikes Dec. 19 against over 70 ISIS targets across central Syria, marking the beginning of Operation Hawkeye Strike. The operation was a direct response to a Dec. 13 ISIS attack in Syria which killed two U.S. service members and one U.S. civilian.

The terror group killed two Iowa National Guardsmen — Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29 — and a civilian interpreter in the Middle Eastern country.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

“There will be very serious retaliation,” the president added.

The DOW referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to CENTCOM’s X post when contacted for comment.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

AUTHOR

Anthony Iafrate

Associate Editor

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Yemen gathering 80,000 troops to destroy Houthis

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“I believe we may be approaching the final chapter for the Houthis,” Gulf researcher says. 

Yemen is amassing 80,000 loyal troops to attack rebel Houthis and recapture the strategic Hodeidah Port, Emirati state media reported on Friday.

Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Center based in Saudi Arabia, said the attack could potentially be the largest of the civil war.

“To my best knowledge, there is a preparation of almost 80,000 soldiers from the legitimate Yemeni government in different locations to take over [Hodeidah],” Sager said.

The 80,000 total is a majority of the legitimate military forces in Yemen, and the operation’s goal is to take back the capital city, Sana’a, for Yemen’s government, which was overrun by Houthis in 2014.

Hodeidah, a leading port in Yemen, was a crucial location for importing food.

Concerning a meeting between U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla and the Chief of Staff of the Yemeni Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Sagheer Hamoud Ahmed Aziz, in Saudi Arabia last week, Sager said the US has agreed to provide drone surveillance and air cover for Yemeni forces.

“I believe we may be approaching the final chapter for the Houthis,” Sager said. “They’ve been given every opportunity to engage in political dialogue and contribute to a government that could spare Yemen from further suffering.”

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‘His Miserable Life Was Terminated’: U.S. Military Strikes ISIS No. 2 Terrorist Leader Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai

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A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed the second-highest-ranking leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) Thursday, authorities announced.

WATCH: Footage of the head of ISIS being taken out by the U.S. military

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces — together with Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces — “conducted a precision airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, that killed the Global ISIS #2 leader, Chief of Global Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir – Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah’, and one other ISIS operative.”

“Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed,” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social. “He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”

A video accompanying CENTCOM’s statement shows what appears to be a vehicle traveling along a road before becoming enveloped in an explosion, then veering off course in a plume of smoke.

Local forces examined the site of the strike and found the two terrorists dead while clad in unexploded suicide vests and possessing multiple weapons, CENTCOM added.

The forces identified al-Rifai as his DNA matched that collected from the site of a previous raid from which he barely escaped, CENTCOM said.

The strike came two days before Trump ordered “decisive and powerful Military action against the [Iran-backed] Houthi terrorists in Yemen” Saturday for their “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other” assets. He told the Houthis that their time was up and warned Iran to stop supporting the Houthis or else “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said the strike was a notice to terrorists as “President Trump will find you.”

“Peace Through Strength,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said.

“The Iraqis continue their remarkable victories against the forces of darkness and terrorism,” wrote Iraqi Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who also praised the forces.

Al-Rifai was the “Emir” of ISIS’s highest decision-making council, making him responsible for the transnational Salafi jihadist quasi-state’s global operations, logistics and planning, and much of its finances, according to CENTCOM.

Holding “the so-called position of (Deputy Caliph),” al-Rifai “was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world,” P.M. al-Sudani wrote, while also congratulating his country and “all peace-loving nations on this significant security achievement.”

“Abu Khadijah was one of the most important ISIS members in the entire global ISIS organization. We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander.

ISIS’s leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — trapped in a surprise Trump administration-led military operation codenamed Operation Kayla Mueller after the American humanitarian worker who had been abducted by ISIS and killed — blew himself and two of his children up with a suicide belt as a military K-9 chased him down a tunnel Oct. 26, 2019. Russia had claimed it killed the terrorist two years earlier.

CENTCOM buried him at sea, NPR reported. His son had reportedly been killed in a suicide attack on a Syrian battlefield July 2018.

AUTHOR

John Oyewale

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Three U.S. Troops Killed In Drone Attack Near Syrian Border

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Three U.S. troops were killed in a drone attack in Jordan near the border of Syria, where Iran-backed militias have conducted more than 150 attacks on bases hosting U.S. troops in recent months, the military said Sunday.

A one-way attack drone crashed into the Jordanian base Saturday night, killing the three U.S. service members and injuring 25 more, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. One of the Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq carried out the attack, but the facts of the incident were still being assessed, the White House also said.

“Today, America’s heart is heavy,” President Joe Biden said in the statement.

The attack signifies a major escalation, as it’s the first time U.S. service members have been killed. A Dec. 25 attack on a base in Iraq critically wounded a service member, who is recovering in the hospital. At least 70 U.S. troops have sustained minor or concussive wounds, a senior military official said on Jan. 25.

CENTCOM is withholding the names of the fallen troops until their family members have been notified, which typically happens within 24 hours of the incident.

Biden called the attack “despicable and wholly unjust.”

“We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt — we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing,” Biden said.

The attack signifies a major escalation, as it’s the first time U.S. service members have been killed. A Dec. 25 attack on a base in Iraq critically wounded a service member, who is recovering in the hospital. At least 70 U.S. troops have sustained minor or concussive wounds, a senior military official said on Jan. 25.

CENTCOM is withholding the names of the fallen troops until their family members have been notified, which typically happens within 24 hours of the incident.

Biden called the attack “despicable and wholly unjust.”

“We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt — we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing,” Biden said.

The Saturday incident also appears to be the first to impact Tower 22 in Jordan, where U.S. forces are advising and assisting Jordanian troops, since the attacks on U.S. and coalition bases began Oct 17, CNN reported.

The primary groups behind the attacks have said they want to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel as it seeks to eliminate the Hamas terrorist group from Gaza.
Biden has instructed the secretary of defense to order several retaliatory attacks against the militias, most recently on Jan. 23 when U.S. forces executed airstrikes in Iraq against three facilities used by Iran-backed militias south of Baghdad. Those were in response to multiple ballistic missile and rocket attacks Iranian-backed militias launched at al-Assad Airbase, injuring at least four.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

U.S. Conducts Second Round Of Retaliatory Airstrikes In Syria As Attacks On Troops Rises To 41

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The U.S. conducted a second round of retaliatory airstrikes at facilities used by Iran’s elite military and Iran-backed groups in Syria on Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Attacks by Iranian-backed militias on bases in Iraq and Syria hosting U.S. troops numbered 41 on Wednesday after at least one more was confirmed, Fox News reported. The retaliatory strikes marked the second time the U.S. has targeted facilities linked to Iran and its proxy militias since the wave of attempted drone and rocket attacks beginning on Oct. 17.

“This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates,” Austin said in the statement. “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.”

President Joe Biden directed the attacks in eastern Syria on weapons storage facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militias, the statement said. Two U.S. F-15 fighter jets conducted the airstrikes.

“The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities. We urge against any escalation. U.S. personnel will continue to conduct counter-ISIS missions in Iraq and Syria,” he added.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder on Monday characterized the operations as repeated “harassing attacks of drones and rockets.” At least 46 personnel sustained injuries including traumatic brain injuries and minor wounds from shrapnel, headaches, perforated ear drums and other conditions, he said.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.