US forces have killed a senior operative of ISIS in Syria. The night raid was a rare operation inside the territory of the official Syrian government, according to a statement from the Pentagon’s Central Command
The Central Command of the US Army announced yesterday (Thursday) that the senior ISIS leader who was killed yesterday in northeastern Syria is Rakan Wahid al-Shamri, a senior member of the organization who was responsible for smuggling weapons and fighters to the terrorist activities in the region.
US special forces dangled from helicopters in northeastern Syria and killed a senior Islamic State official on Thursday in a rare operation inside Syrian government territory, according to American and Syrian Kurdish security officials and in a statement issued by the Pentagon’s Central Command.
The New York Times reports that during the night raid the commandos also wounded one of the close associates of an ISIS operative and captured two more, the announcement states. No American forces were injured or killed during the operation, and no civilians were harmed, the statement said.
A Kurdish security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said airborne forces landed near a village outside the city of Qamishli before dawn on Thursday.
Syrian state television reported that the “American occupation forces” carried out an air strike with the support of Syrian Kurdish forces and that one civilian was killed and others were kidnapped.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that US forces raided a private home, killed a man who lived there and arrested family members. The group’s director, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said that fighters allied to the Syrian government opened fire on US forces. , fired back and wounded several of the fighters.
The Syrian TV channel Syria24 reported that the residents of the village, Milok Saraya, were warned through loudspeakers to stay in their houses with the lights off. It was reported that a man suspected of being the leader of ISIS, known locally as Abu Hayal, moved several years ago to an abandoned house near the village.
It is not clear whether the United States used a special hotline to alert the Russians, who are about thirty kilometers away, before the night raid. In previous US operations in the northwest of the country, military officials used the hotline to give the Russians early warning of an upcoming American mission, to prevent any exchange of fire between the two armies.