Pentagon officials say that the massive strikes against more than 75 Islamic State terrorist group targets in Syria over the weekend were the result of an opportunity created by the withdrawal of Russian forces amid the collapse of the regime of Bashar Assad.
"We saw the opportunity, and we took it" was Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh's answer on Monday when asked whether the strikes' timing, which were conducted in Syria's Badiya desert, coincided with the departure of Russian air assets.
The strikes, which took place Sunday, targeted Islamic State leaders and camps that, according to Singh, "we know have operated there for ... many, many years." The U.S. launched an ongoing military campaign against the group in 2014 after it seized territory in Syria and Iraq, carried out international attacks, and executed aid workers and journalists.
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U.S. Central Command, in a post to social media Sunday, said that it struck "over 75 targets using multiple U.S. Air Force[2] assets, including B-52s[3], F-15s[4], and A-10s[5]" in "approximately five locations," according to Singh.
A senior administration official told reporters[6] Monday that around 140 munitions were used in the attack.
U.S. officials say that the strikes are meant to send a message to the Islamic State, which is also referred to as IS, that the instability in Syria is not an opportunity for it to resume operations.
"I think anytime there is chaos or a leadership vacuum, [IS] will always try and use that as an advantage and fill that void, which is exactly what we don't want to see happen," Singh said. "That's why we took the actions that we did."
However, neither Singh nor other officials were willing to offer an estimate on just how much a blow the strikes did to the international terrorist group, which U.S. forces have been fighting for around a decade[7].
Singh pushed back against the assertion by reporters that the strikes -- the latest of countless carried out by the U.S. against ISIS in recent years -- were not making an impact.
"We haven't eradicated IS off the map, but their capability is nowhere near where they used to be," she said.
However, while the collapse of Assad's regime has offered U.S. forces an opportunity to strike at the Islamic State group in areas previously unavailable to them, the uncertainty of Syria's future also poses significant risk to American troops in the area.
The rebels who captured the Syrian capital are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a group that traces its origins back to an al-Qaida affiliate and was designated as a terrorist organization in 2018.
The group's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, was involved with militants who fought U.S. troops in Iraq following the invasion in 2003, and the State Department has a $10 million bounty for information about him[8].
More recently, though, the group has moderated its views and says it has not only renounced extremism but is focusing on creating an Islamic republic in Syria that would be religiously tolerant[9] and broadly democratic[10].
Singh said that the U.S. has no formal communication with the group that seems to be the new rulers of Syria but noted that "we certainly have counterparts and other groups that have ways of delivering messages to HTS and other rebel groups." Singh also said she was not aware of an official channel being set up with HTS or other rebel groups to deconflict military operations and prevent unnecessary casualties.
Instead of HTS, the U.S. has long maintained a relationship with the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a joint Kurdish-Arab militia in the country that controls much of the western part of Syria[11] but whose territory doesn't include key cities like Aleppo, Homs or Damascus.
Singh said that this continued partnership with the SDF was instrumental in keeping the Islamic State, as well as Iranian-backed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, in check.
The senior administration official said that they hope the statements of rebel leaders and what they're saying are translated into actions on the ground.
"We're very much hopeful they will be," they added but also noted that "we will be engaging with a broad spectrum of Syrian society, opposition groups, groups on the ground in Syria, exile groups."
But the official also said that the U.S. has "to be smart in how we deal with it, and also very mindful and pragmatic about the realities on the ground."
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