Centcom

Joe Biden Escalates Syria Involvement with Deadly Raid

U.S. special forces on Thursday conducted an unusual helicopter raid near the village of Qamishli, an area controlled by the Syrian central government, in an apparently successful effort to eliminate Islamic State weapons smuggler Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri.

A U.S. Apache attack helicopter flies over a field near in the town of Tal Haddad in the countryside of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on September 15, 2020. (DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Pentagon Says Top Al-Qaeda Leader Killed in Syria Drone Strike

U.S. defense officials announced on Thursday that senior al-Qaeda leader Salim Abu-Ahmad was killed in an airstrike in the Idlib region of Syria on September 20. Observers in Syria had previously noted what appeared to be a drone strike on a vehicle traveling through rural Syria on that date.

UNSPECIFIED, UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 07: A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile lands at a secret air base after flying a mission in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016. The U.S. military and coalition forces use the base, located in an …

Tired of Waiting for Russia and Turkey, U.S. Strikes Al-Qaeda in Syria

The U.S. military on Sunday launched deadly airstrikes against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria, marking the first time in two years that American troops have targeted members affiliated with the international terrorist organization, which now controls more territory than any other jihadi group in the war-ravaged country.

The ruins of buildings are pictured on July 1, 2019 at the site where the US military carried out a strike against Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria's northwestern Aleppo province. - The US military said today it had targeted jihadists in an embattled northwestern opposition bastion in northwest Syria the previous …

Top U.S. Commander: Bashar al-Assad ‘Has Won’ Syrian Civil War

WASHINGTON, DC — The Russian- and Iranian-assisted regime of Bashar al-Assad is winning the civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands in Syria since 2011, suggested the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, stressing that toppling the dictator is not part of the American mission in the conflict-ridden country.

"I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity, and he's there, and I guess he's running things, so I guess something should happen," US President Donald Trump said of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, seen in 2016

Top U.S. General: ‘We Have Not Relaxed the Rules of Engagement’ in Mosul

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. military has not “relaxed” the rules of engagement (ROE) put in place to avoid civilian casualties in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), commonly known for using the home of innocent people as shelter and the inhabitants as shields, the top American commander in the region told lawmakers.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces keep watch in a village east of Mosul, Iraq, May 29, 2016. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari