U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30 ISIS targets in Syria in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”

CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3-12, its forces “struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”

Recently, CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.

US MILITARY IN SYRIA CARRIES OUT 5 STRIKES AGAINST ‘MULTIPLE ISIS TARGETS’

“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.

“Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer.”

AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT

On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a “great conversation with the highly respected” president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa. 

“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” said President Trump. “So, we are very happy about it.”

The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.

AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT

“More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,” CENTCOM said.

On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it had completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria, pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.

CHAOS IN SYRIA SPARKS FEARS OF ISIS PRISON BREAKS AS US RUSHES DETAINEES TO IRAQ

Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.

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Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan and Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.

Limits to pardon powers

But there are limits to presidential clemency, and already, Trump has brushed against them.

In December, Trump announced that he would pardon Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who supported Trump’s false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

Peters, however, was also convicted of state-level crimes, after she used her office to allow an unauthorised person to access her county’s election software.

A president may only pardon federal charges, not state ones. Peters continues to serve a nine-year prison sentence. Still, Trump has sought to pressure Colorado officials to release her.

“She did nothing wrong,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!”

While Trump has argued that presidents have the “complete power to pardon”, legal experts have repeatedly affirmed that clemency is not without bounds.

Pardons, for example, cannot be used to avoid impeachment or to undercut the Constitution, nor can they be used to absolve future crimes.

Still, the question remains how to enforce those limits — and whether new bulwarks should be created to prevent abuse.

Love points to the state pardon systems as models to emulate. Delaware, for example, has a Board of Pardons that hears petitions in public meetings and makes recommendations to the governor. More than half of the petitions are granted.

Like other successful clemency systems, Love said it offers public accountability.

She measures that accountability by certain standards: “Can people see what’s going on? Do they know what the standards are, and is the decider a respected and responsible decision-maker?”

Trump’s sweeping actions, however, have prompted calls for presidential pardons to be limited or eliminated altogether.

Osler cautions against doing so: It would be a “permanent solution to a temporary problem”.

“If we constrain clemency, we’ll lose all the good things that come from it,” Osler said.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Canada’s women’s curling team at the Milan Cortina Olympics was accused Saturday of the same violation that prompted an expletive-laden outburst from a Canadian men’s curler a day earlier.

The latest accusation in a controversy that has divided the curling community led to more tense moments on the ice at the Cortina Curling Center.

In the first end of the women’s game against Switzerland, which the Swiss ultimately won 8-7, officials called a foul, saying that skip Rachel Homan had touched her stone again after releasing it.

In curling, that’s known as “double-touching,” and it’s against the rules.

Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canada ’s Marc Kennedy of the same infraction during Canada’s 8-6 win in round-robin play late Friday. On the ice, Kennedy repeatedly used profanity while denying he broke any rules. Although video of his throw appeared to confirm the accusation, Kennedy maintained his innocence into Saturday and went so far as to accuse Sweden of having a “premeditated” plan.

Though the Canadian women were not as fired up in response to the allegation of double-touching, they surely looked incredulous after the call.

“Like, absolutely not,” said Homan, who is known as one of the best skips in the world. “Zero-percent chance.”

Homan’s teammate, Emma Miskew, could be heard briefly engaging with an official on the sidelines, asking why video could not be used to review the call. The official explained that the team needed to trust the umpire. By rule, World Curling does not use video to review game play.

Before restarting the match, the Canadian women huddled with their coaches. Expletives could be heard from those in the circle, though it was not clear who uttered them.

After the game, Homan said she felt she’d been unfairly scrutinized because of the controversy on the men’s side.

“I don’t understand the call. I’ll never understand it. We’ve never done that,” she said. “It has nothing to do with us.”

After an early win over Denmark, the Canadian women have lost their last three matches. They lost to the United States on Friday, the first time in Olympic history that the U.S. had beaten Canada in women’s curling.

Also in women’s action on Saturday, Sweden women beat Italy 8-6, Denmark beat Korea 6-3 and the U.S. beat Japan 7-4.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics