This local official participated in the preparation of “attacks against detention centers and the manufacture of improvised explosive devices”, according to Washington. The operation caused no injuries.
US helicopter troops fighting with the Syrian Democratic Forces captured a local leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said.
This official, identified as Batar, was “involved in the planning of attacks against (…) detention centers and the manufacture of improvised explosive devices”, said the United States military command for the Middle East (Centcom).
No civilians or members of the US forces were killed or injured in the operation, Centcom added.
IS leader killed in previous operation
Since the territorial defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, several hundred American soldiers, deployed in northeastern Syria as part of the anti-jihadist coalition, continue to fight with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, dominated by the Kurds) and to target suspected ISIS members.
Four American soldiers were wounded Thursday evening in an earlier operation that killed an IS leader in northeastern Syria, identified as Hamza al-Homsi and who, according to Centcom, “oversaw the deadly terrorist network of the group in eastern Syria”.
After jihadists lost their last territory to local Kurdish-led and coalition-backed forces in 2019, the last IS fighters in Syria have mostly retreated to desert hideouts in Syria. east of the country.
