World News | U.S. military commanders in Syria briefed on anti-Islam operations

BEIRUT, March 5 (AP) — The top U.S. military commander visited northeastern Syria Saturday, where U.S. forces and their allies are launching a campaign against the Islamic State group, a U.S. military official said.

Milley spokesman Col. Dave Butler said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, met with commanders and troops, who updated him on ongoing operations against the Islamic State.

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Butler did not say whether Milley had met with commanders of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have been key allies of the U.S. military in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

Milley’s visit came a day after U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces and their allies conducted more than a dozen joint operations in northeastern Syria in February, during which five IS operatives were killed and 11 were detained.

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“Where he was, he received updates on counter-IS missions, reviewed troop protection measures, and assessed repatriation efforts at the al-Hol refugee camp,” Butler said, referring to a camp that houses tens of thousands of mainly Islamic State State-linked women’s and children’s camps.

In al-Hol, tens of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis huddled in tents in a fenced-in camp. Nearly 20,000 of them were children and most of the rest were women, wives and widows of IS fighters.

In a separate, heavily fortified area of ​​the camp known as Annex there were another 10,000: 2,000 women from 57 other countries – considered the most staunch IS supporters – and about 8,000 of their fellow name child.

Several countries, including France, Spain and Iraq, have repatriated dozens of women and children from al-Hol in the past few months.

Kurdish authorities currently maintain more than two dozen detention facilities in northeastern Syria, where about 10,000 IS fighters are being held. Among the detainees, about 2,000 foreigners were refused repatriation by their home countries, including about 800 Europeans.

About 900 U.S. troops are currently stationed in northeastern Syria, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Straul.

Despite their defeat in March 2019, during which the Islamic State lost the last piece of land it once controlled, extremist sleeper cells are still carrying out deadly attacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

In February, IS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting truffles near the central town of Sokhna, killing at least 53 people, mostly workers but also some members of Syrian government security forces. Several similar attacks have since occurred. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)