US Bombs 75 ISIS Targets Across Syria After Assad Overthrown

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Sunday that US forces have conducted multiple dozens of major airstrikes targeting ISIS camps and their terror camps across central Syria. 

CENTCOM stated on X, “The strikes against the ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps were conducted as part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, in order to prevent the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria.”

“The operation struck over 75 targets using multiple U.S. Air Force assets, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s.”

“Battle damage assessments are underway, and there are no indications of civilian casualties,” CENTCOM continued.

Especially given the presence of B-52s in the operation, this was clearly a large-scale op. But it begs an important question: Washington chooses now to very belatedly go after ISIS?

One wonders why they weren’t targeted in the past, whether months ago or years ago. There hasn’t been a US operation of this scale going back perhaps a half-decade at least.

A theory? Perhaps now that it’s ‘mission accomplished’ with the Assad government overthrown, and with Damascus in the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists, ISIS is no longer needed to ‘pressure’ Assad and Russian forces. The Pentagon is now much belatedly dealing with the Daesh terrorists.

Recall the Obama era in Syria and the West-Gulf allies fueling the rise of ISIS with tons and tons of weaponry passed around to the Islamist insurgents which made up the mainstay of anti-Assad ‘opposition’…

US Secretary of State John Kerry in leaked audio on anti-Assad forces: “we’ve been putting an extraordinary amount of arms in… Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, huge amount of weapons coming in, huge amount of money…” (Sep 2016) pic.twitter.com/plN2rH8UHf

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 8, 2024

On Sunday President Joe Biden finally addressed the rapidly moving events in Syria, and with Assad having fled to Moscow, where he was given asylum. ”At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden said. “This regime brutalized, tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians.” And more:

At the same time, it’s “also a moment of risk and uncertainty,” Biden added, saying that the U.S. would “support Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel, should any threat arise.”

“This is a moment of considerable risk and uncertainty,” Biden said. “But I also believe this is the best opportunity in generations for Syrians to forge their own future free of opposition.”

The day prior, a White House national security statement sought to emphasize that the United States “has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization.”

Biden in the Sunday address at one point alluded to the obvious on the minds of many, and as Syrian Christians flee toward the coast:

“Some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses,” President Biden says. “They’re saying the right things now. But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words but their actions.” pic.twitter.com/e0nfsb7ZbL

— Benjamin Alvarez (@BenjAlvarez1) December 8, 2024

Meanwhile, over in Turkey…

Erdogan:

“There are only two people left among the leaders in the world. Me and Putin.

I have completed 22 years in office. Putin is close to that. All the others have been eliminated and left.”

pic.twitter.com/vjBtT3GWKG

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 8, 2024

Currently, reports of looting have emerged from the Syrian capital, but there is a certain ‘fog of war’ along with many uncertainties. It’s also anything but certain what Syria will look like a week from now, months from now, or years from now.