Cairo [Egypt], November 10: Syria has announced the launch of a nationwide security campaign against the terrorist Islamic State militia, just before a landmark visit by interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa to the White House.
Al Sharaa is due to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, marking the first such visit since Syria's independence in 1946. Syria's crackdown on Islamic State has resulted in the "neutralizing" of a member of the extremist militia and the injuring of a member of the government security forces, a Syrian official said late Saturday.
"The operation was pre-emptive, targeting Daesh [Islamic State] cells in multiple regions and provinces," Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine Al Baba told the state television Al-Ikhbariya (The News).
He said the campaign had included 61 raids, resulting in the detention of 71 Islamic State suspects across Syria. In 2014, IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The US began an operation to combat the hardline group during which the US military, along with allies, conducted thousands of airstrikes in both countries. Islamic State is considered militarily defeated, but an estimated 2,500 of its operatives are still active in both countries.
Source: Qatar Tribune
