By Chicago Times Magazine –
November 13, 2025
US Central Command and coalition partners advised, assisted and enabled more than 22 operations against ISIS in Syria between Oct. 1 and Nov. 6, officials said, actions that commanders say have reduced the group’s capacity to conduct local attacks and export violence internationally.
The operations were carried out by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve in coordination with Syrian partners and resulted in five ISIS fighters killed and 19 captured. U.S. Central Command described the campaign as part of sustained efforts to pursue ISIS remnants and consolidate gains made after the group’s territorial defeat in 2019.
In recent months the coalition has emphasized stabilizing and redeveloping areas that had been under ISIS control and pressing partner countries to take a more active role in handling ISIS detainees and displaced persons from northeast Syria. At a United Nations conference in September, the CENTCOM commander urged coalition nations to accelerate repatriation of detainees and displaced people, and to support secure detention and judicial processing for those returned to their countries of origin.
Syria formally joined the Global Coalition Against ISIS earlier this week as its 90th member. Coalition officials note that repatriation and reductions in camp populations help shrink opportunities for extremist recruitment and influence, particularly among women and children. Displaced persons camps at al-Hol and al-Roj, which once held about 70,000 people at the group’s peak in 2019, now house fewer than 30,000.
U.S. officials signaled continued support for coalition efforts, including urging countries to repatriate and prosecute their citizens and to maintain secure detention measures in northeast Syria to prevent ISIS from regenerating and exporting attacks abroad.
Feature image: Coalition Members on patrol – Sgt. Trenton Pallone, United States Army
