A brigade from the 10th Mountain Division will deploy to U.S. Central Command, an area that oversees military operations across the Middle East and parts of Central and South Asia, the Army announced earlier this week.
The 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team will take over from an Iowa National Guard unit, which on Monday said that its soldiers would begin returning from deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
“During their deployment, these soldiers worked alongside coalition and regional partners to significantly reduce the capabilities of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, helping improve security and stability throughout the region,” the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, said in a statement on social media.
The brigade also said that, “due to progress achieved toward U.S. Central Command objectives, some soldiers and units have completed their assigned missions and are beginning a phased redeployment home in accordance with higher headquarters guidance.”
The U.S. launched Operation Inherent Resolve in 2014 to counter the Islamic State’s expansion into Iraq and Syria.
While ISIS lost control of its self-declared caliphate in 2019, U.S. and coalition forces have remained in the region to support partner forces and prevent the group’s resurgence.
U.S. operations against the group have persisted. In the wake of a December attack that killed two Iowa National Guard soldiers and an American civilian interpreter, CENTCOM said Wednesday that U.S. forces conducted multiple strikes against ISIS targets across Syria between Jan. 27 and Monday.
This deployment is a regular rotation of forces, the Army said. The announcement did not specify in which countries the brigade would operate. It also did not include a timeline for the deployment.
Mobile Brigade Combat Teams — like the incoming brigade — are a new formation, introduced as part of the service’s Transforming in Contact initiative, that reorganizes traditional infantry brigades to be more mobile and have more reconnaissance and targeting capabilities.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.