Scores of ISIS operatives killed in Iraq, Syria in first half of year, CENTCOM says

July 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Central Command reported Wednesday that from January to June 2024 the ISIS terrorist group claimed 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria, indicating a reconstitution attempt.

CENTCOM said 44 ISIS operatives were killed and 166 detained in the first half of 2024.

Military officials said in a statement the effort to defeat ISIS and prevent its comeback included 196 missions in Iraq and Syria in conjunction with Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

"The global enduring defeat of ISIS relies on combined efforts of the coalition and partners to remove key leaders from the battlefield and the repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of families from Al Hol and Al Roj," said CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla in a statement.

In Iraq, 137 partnered operations resulted in 30 ISIS operatives killed and 74 ISIS operatives detained. In Syria, 59 operations killed 14 ISIS operatives and 92 captured ISIS operatives, according to CENTCOM.

"The above operations resulted in eight senior ISIS leaders killed and 32 captured in both Iraq and Syria," CENTCOM's statement said. "These leaders include those responsible for planning of operations outside of Syria and Iraq, recruiting, training, and weapons smuggling. The removal of these individuals from their leadership positions further degrades ISIS capabilities to conduct external operations in the U.S. and allied nations."

There are an estimated 2,500 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria still at large, by CENTCOM estimates.

CENTCOM said the their continuing pursuit of ISIS fighters is critical to "the enduring defeat of ISIS."

Ongoing international efforts are working to repatriate more than 9,000 ISIS detainees in Syria.

More than 43,000 individuals and families are also still in the Al Hol and Al Roj camps and need "repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration," according to CENTCOM.

At the peak there were 70,000 people in the camps in 2019.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on the tenth anniversary of the global effort to defeat ISIS in April that while the "territorial defeat of ISIS" has been achieved, the organization remains a threat.

In June the U.S. joined Turkey in sanctions on four people allegedly connected to an ISIS-linked human smuggling network.

The U.S. Treasury Department vowed to continue to leverage a "full suite" of tools to identify and disrupt what it said were "the illicit networks that support ISIS operations."

Gen. Kurilla's Wednesday statement said CENTCOM is continuing to focus efforts on "those members of ISIS who are seeking to conduct external operations outside of Iraq and Syria and those ISIS members attempting to break out ISIS members in detention in an attempt to reconstitute their forces."