Syria / Envato Market
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
(Worthy News) – U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that American forces, working alongside local Syrian partners, conducted more than 22 counterterrorism operations against ISIS between October 1 and November 6, significantly degrading the terror group’s operational capabilities across the region.
The missions — carried out under Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) — resulted in five ISIS operatives killed and 19 captured, according to CENTCOM’s statement.
“Our success in countering the ISIS threat in Syria is a notable achievement,” said CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper. “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.”
Syria Formally Joins Global Coalition Against ISIS
In a major diplomatic shift, Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa announced earlier this week that Damascus has joined the Global Coalition Against ISIS as its 90th member — a dramatic departure from the Assad era and a clear sign of Syria’s strategic realignment.
Since the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2019, the U.S.-led Coalition has prioritized stabilizing formerly ISIS-held areas, returning detainees to their home countries, and rebuilding basic infrastructure.
CENTCOM Pushes for Accelerated Repatriation and Detention Reform
Cooper underscored the urgency of repatriating the tens of thousands of displaced persons — many of them women and children — who remain vulnerable to extremist indoctrination.
At their 2019 peak, the al-Hol and al-Roj camps housed roughly 70,000 people. That number has now fallen below 30,000.
“Repatriating vulnerable populations before they are radicalized is not just compassion—it is a decisive blow against ISIS’s ability to ever regenerate,” Cooper said. “The United States will continue supporting the Coalition and all nations committed to bringing their citizens home.”
U.S. Plans Military Presence in Damascus Under Emerging Syria–Israel Peace Framework
As part of Washington’s broader diplomatic push, the United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help implement a security pact between Syria and Israel, according to six sources who spoke with Reuters.
The move — not previously disclosed — would mark one of the clearest indicators yet of Syria’s strategic shift toward the U.S. after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, formerly an Iranian ally.
SDF Arrests Five ISIS Operatives in Raqqa Region Raid
In northern Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced it arrested five ISIS cell members in Tal al-Saman, north of Raqqa, on November 1.
SDF officials reported that three of those detained were involved in planning and executing attacks on SDF positions and institutions run by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), which governs much of northeastern Syria.
The SDF continues to serve as a primary ground force for the U.S.-led coalition, particularly in counterterrorism operations against ISIS sleeper cells.
Amid Syria’s dramatic political realignment following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, negotiations between Syria and Israel — mediated heavily by the United States — have accelerated. Damascus is steadily distancing itself from the Russia-Iran axis and moving toward a new security partnership with Washington and Jerusalem.
According to diplomatic sources, U.S. officials have been brokering a framework that includes security guarantees, border-stabilization mechanisms, counterterrorism cooperation, and a phased normalization process. A central priority is preventing Iranian-backed militias from re-establishing footholds near Israel’s northern frontier, a key demand from both Washington and Jerusalem.
This shift represents one of the most consequential geopolitical reversals in the Middle East in decades. If the negotiations succeed, Syria could become a central pillar of a new regional alignment — one that strengthens U.S. and Israeli strategic interests while increasingly isolating Tehran’s remaining proxies.
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