US captures top ISIS official after helicopter raid in Syria
The United States military announced Saturday that it conducted a helicopter raid in eastern Syria that yielded the capture of a top ISIS official.
In a press release, CENTCOM announced that US Central Command forces worked with the Syrian military to conduct a helicopter raid which led to the capture of an ISIS official identified as Batar.
The press release says that Batar was “involved in planning attacks on SDF-guarded detention centers and manufacturing improvised explosive devices.”
No civilians, Syrian soldiers, or US forces were killed or injured, according to the press release.
Shortly after the press release, CENTCOM issued another release stating that coalition forces had been attacked by rockets in northeast Syria on Saturday evening but said no injuries were reported.
News of the successful raid comes the day after CENTCOM announced that four US service members were injured during a raid that left a senior ISIS leader dead. Four US servicemen were injured in the raid that left the ISIS leader captured. AP
On the morning of 18 Feb, US and SDF forces conducted a helicopter raid in eastern Syria, capturing an ISIS official. pic.twitter.com/OMprEZmdCX— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 18, 2023
CENTCOM confirmed the death of Hamza al-Homsi during the helicopter raid and said that all four US service members, along with a working dog, were being treated for their injuries at a US medical facility in Iraq.
“Hamza al-Homsi oversaw the group’s deadly terrorist network in eastern Syria before he was killed in the raid,” CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino told Fox News Digital.
Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the US, told Fox News Digital that US presence “in northeast Syria is still essential to end ISIS.”
