Advertisement

Updated June 16th, 2022 at 14:12 IST

US-led coalition forces capture senior ISIS leader from Syria in military raid

Operation Inherent Resolve informed that detained ISIS leader, whose name or identity wasn’t immediately released, was assessed to be bomb maker.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
US
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
Advertisement

United States Army on Thursday captured a senior ISIS leader during a special operation in Syria on Thursday. The mission was meticulously planned to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to civilians, Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition against ISIS, informed in a statement on June 16.

Operation Inherent Resolve further mentioned that the detained ISIS leader, whose name or identity wasn’t immediately released by the US Army, was considered to be an experienced bomb maker and facilitator who became one of the group’s top leaders in Syria. The exact location of the US Army raid was not identified nor did the coalition forces say where the raid took place, only stating that the military operation was “successful.” 

It is pertinent to note that there were neither any civilian casualties during the anti-ISIS operation nor any damage to Coalition fighter aircraft or assets. “Coalition forces will continue to hunt the remnants of ISIS (or Daesh) wherever they hide to ensure their enduring defeat,” US Army’s Operation Inherent Resolve stressed. No additional details on the operation were immediately available from the United States Armed Forces deployed in Syria, who were involved in the covert military operation against the Islamic terrorists. 

ISIS Areas of Influence. Credit: US DoD

Coalition troops targeted village area of al-Humaira

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syria war monitor, informed that the US coalition troops started the operation with two helicopters that landed near the targeted area in the village of al-Humaira, about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from the Turkish border. An intense gun battle and clashes were reported from the houses in the village in the northern Aleppo countryside of Syria. 

ISIS gained prominence in the region in June 2014 by conquering large parts of Iraq and Syria and defeating the US-trained Iraqi military. United States special forces adopted a “limited liability, limited risk” strategy to defeat ISIS with the cooperation of the Iraqi and Syrian forces for conducting the ground operations and providing the central effort—ranging from critical air power to combat operations. 

US soldier deployed in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, waits while a CH-47 Chinook is refuelled at Qayyarah West Airfield. Credit: US DoD/Operation Inherent Resolve 

United States Air Force halted ISIS's 2014 offensive that was planned in Baghdad, Erbil, and Kobani, and has since targetted ISIS’ cash reserves and oil business via strategic airstrikes to weaken the terror faction’s finance flow. The jihadist group advanced in the small town of Kobani, located on the Syrian-Turkish border, in September and October 2014.

An estimated 4,000 ISIS fighters infiltrated the Turkish-Syrian border with heavy weaponry prompting US coalition forces and fighter aircraft to deploy 2,025 weapons and 1,700 precision-guided munitions. Combined Joint Task Force ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’ cooperates with the regional partners to militarily defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. 

US Army image shows US service members watching as Syrian Democratic Forces remove military fortifications during the implementation of the security mechanism along the Turkey-Syria border in northeast Syria. Credit: Associated Press

US-backed forces declared victory over the Islamic State in March 2019, but as the terror faction continues to operate and carries out deadly attacks in both Iraq and Syria via sleeper cells across several countries, US coalition forces conduct routinely raids to take out leaders of Islamic fundamentalist terror group. In February, ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew himself and the members of his family during the overnight raid by American special operations forces in his Syrian hideout located in the village of Atmeh. He was responsible for the genocide of the Yazidi population in Iraq in 2014. US soldiers later took fingerprints and DNA, which confirmed al-Qurayshi’s death, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said. 

Al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi's predecessor, ISIS leader and mastermind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, similarly detonated a suicide vest that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as United States special forces approached. The bomb blast also injured a US military dog, and at least two soldiers as troops busted into a compound. 

Advertisement

Published June 16th, 2022 at 14:12 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo