A U.S. defense official said there were no injuries to U.S. military personnel and no damage to aircraft involved in the raid.
"Coalition forces detained a senior ISIS leader during an operation in Syria June 16," Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement. "The detained individual was assessed to be an experienced bomb maker and controller who became one of the group’s top leaders in Syria."
A U.S. official told ABC News the name of the ISIS leader captured in the raid is Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi and described him as actively planning ISIS operations.
"Though degraded, ISIS remains a threat. We remain dedicated to its defeat. Last night’s operation, which took a senior ISIS operator off the battlefield, demonstrates our commitment to the security of the Middle East and to the enduring defeat of ISIS," said Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, in a statement provided to ABC News.
Saudi-based al-Arabiya tv quoted sources saying that al-Kurdi was transferred to Iraq later.
U.S. military ground raids into northwestern Syria are risky because they are carried out far west from U.S. bases in eastern Syria in areas that are controlled either by snuffies or Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
’s government.
"The mission was meticulously planned to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to civilians," OIR said. "There were no civilians harmed during the operation nor any damage to Coalition aircraft or assets."
U.S. military ground operations in northwestern Syria have targeted top ISIS leaders, most notably Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself during an October 2019 raid near the border with
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...that was carried out by the elite Delta Force.
His successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, let 'er rip with a kaboom during a similar raid in February this year.
"Coalition forces will continue to work with our partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga, to hunt the remnants of ISIS wherever they hide to ensure ISIS’s enduring defeat," Operation Inherent Resolve added. ISIS is another name used to describe ISIS.
| An Nahar adds: |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group bomb maker in an airborne operation before dawn Thursday in northern Syria. A war monitor and AFP correspondents said helicopters touched down for only a few minutes in a village in an area controlled by
"The captured individual is an experienced bomb maker and operational controller who became one of the top leaders of ISIS's Syrian branch," it said, using another name for IS.
Such operations by U.S. forces are rare in areas of northwestern Syria that are under the control of
The latest previously was a raid in early February that led to the death of the group's leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, who detonated a bomb vest to avoid capture.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that two helicopters landed in Hmeirah
| ...also spelt Al-Humaira... |
"The U.S. operation was quick and smooth," he said. "It took place in the village of Hmeirah, northeast of the city of Aleppo and four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the
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