Fri 07 October 2022:
In two separate military operations in Syria on Thursday, US forces killed three senior Islamic State leaders, including a rare ground raid in a region of the northeast that is under the control of the Syrian regime, according to US officials.
Officials claim that US special operations forces carried out a raid close to the village of Qamishli, where they killed IS rebel Rakkan Wahid al Shamman, wounded another, and captured two more.
US Forces Conduct Raid in Northeast Syria against ISIS pic.twitter.com/vu3cnlSz3w
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 6, 2022
According to officials, the US carried out an airstrike in northern Syria later on Thursday, killing Abu Ala, the second-in-command of the Islamic State in Syria, and Abu Mu’ad al Qahtani.
According to a US official, the ground raid was carried out by a small contingent of US troops who were stationed nearby Qamishli for less than an hour. US missions are not frequently conducted in areas that Syrian President Bashar Assad is in charge of. The officials discussed specifics of the raid under the condition of anonymity.
US Central Command claimed in a statement that al Shamman was well-known for facilitating the smuggling of fighters and weapons to support Islamic State operations. The statement claims that neither US soldiers nor civilians were killed or hurt during the raid.
About 900 US troops are still stationed in Syria to advise and support the Syrian Democratic Forces in their conflict with the Islamic State group.
One US official said that, for the first time in a long time, the US did not use its deconfliction phone line with Russia to notify them of the US troop raid and presence there.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details, said the lack of deconfliction was more the result of operational security and not a reaction to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
When US forces are in the northeastern region of Syria, where Russian forces also operate, the US and Russia have used the deconfliction line to prevent any possible accidents or incidents.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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