Five ISIS Terrorists Killed, 19 Captured in Syria: US CENTCOM

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a Nov. 12 statement that the capabilities of the ISIS terrorist group in Syria have been further diminished over the past month after local operations took down 24 members.

CENTCOM said that the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS “advised, assisted, and enabled” more than 22 operations from Oct. 1 to Nov. 6, in which the coalition and its Syrian partners targeted ISIS cells in Syria, killing five members and capturing another 19.

“Our success in countering the ISIS threat in Syria is a notable achievement,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said. “We will continue to aggressively pursue ISIS remnants in Syria while working with the Global Coalition Against ISIS to ensure the gains made against the group in Iraq and Syria are lasting and ISIS is not able to regenerate or export terrorist attacks to other countries.”

Earlier this week, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with President Donald Trump in the White House and signed a political cooperation declaration to join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Syria has been carrying out nationwide preemptive operations against the group.

Ahead of that meeting, the U.N. Security Council, minus China, voted to end terrorism-related sanctions on Syria’s interim president and interior minister.

It removes Sharaa—previously known as Mohammed al-Jolani—leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and Interior Minister Anas Khattab from sanctions aimed at ISIS and al-Qaeda associates.

The U.N. resolution recognizes the interim Syrian government’s pledges to ensure unencumbered humanitarian access, fight terrorism, and preserve human rights.

Trump agreed during his bilateral meeting to grant Syria a 180-day extension of his waiver of sanctions that prohibit the sale of goods, technology, or equipment to Syria and block the country from the international banking system.

A permanent lifting of the sanctions will require congressional approval, for which Trump has expressed support. He said this point in history is “a chance at greatness” for the Syrian people, who have suffered through 13 years of civil war. Reconstruction costs in Syria are projected to range between $140 billion and $345 billion, according to the World Bank.

“He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I like him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office hours after his meeting with the Syrian leader.

Sharaa took office in December 2024 after the overthrow of former leader Bashar al-Assad, following a 13-year civil war that ended in victory for HTS. HTS was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 2018 but was removed from the list this year.

The group began as the al-Nusra Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. A now-deleted bounty notice against Sharaa notes his role in founding the al-Nusra Front and leading the group through its reorganization into HTS.

The bounty notice further stated that the group had taken part in kidnappings and killings in Syria over the years, including the 2015 slayings of 20 Druze villagers in Idlib Province.

Refugees

Regarding the 30,000 people who remain in refugee camps in northeast Syria, which are currently run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group supported by Washington, Cooper has voiced the need to expedite their return to their home countries. This will deny ISIS the opportunity to rise again in the region, he told a U.N. conference in September.

“Repatriating vulnerable populations before they are radicalized is not just compassion—it is a decisive blow against ISIS’s ability to ever regenerate,” he said on Nov. 12. “The United States will continue supporting the Coalition and all nations committed to bringing their citizens home.”

In addition to these repatriation efforts of foreigners, CENTCOM said the United States is advocating for nations to support the responsible and secure detention of ISIS members in northeast Syria.

There have also been discussions in Europe about repatriating Syrian refugees.

Germany’s interior ministry reported that since the collapse of Assad’s regime, about 1,300 Syrians have voluntarily returned home, Deutsche Welle reported in August.

Earlier this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he has invited Sharaa to Berlin to discuss the potential repatriation of Syrians, saying that there are “no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany.”

As of 2023, more than 160,000 Syrians have been granted German citizenship, and many more hold permanent residence permits. About 1 million Syrians live in Germany today.

Aldgra Fredly and Reuters contributed to this report.