Beirut (AP) – A U.S. -led coalition force arrested a senior Islamic State leader Thursday in a military operation in northern Syria, the coalition said.
The statement states that the arrested leader was an experienced bombmaker and operational facilitator who described him as one of the main leaders of the Syrian branch of the extremist group.
The statement did not specify the person’s identity or the location where the raid took place. He said the operation was “successful” and no civilians or coalition forces were injured.
A Syrian war observer, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the operation was launched from two helicopters that landed at the target area in the village of Al-Humayra, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Turkish border.
The clashes were reported by unknown armed men hiding in homes north of the village of Aleppo as they were chased by coalition members. The observatory is based in the UK and maintains a network of ground activists in Syria.
U.S. -backed forces declared victory against Islamic State in March 2019 after the group recaptured the last part of its territory in Syria. But the Islamic State continues their operation and conducts deadly attacks in both Iraq and Syria through dormant cells and maintains several branches in various countries.
The coalition had earlier carried out attacks to oust the leaders of the violent group. In February, the group’s leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi, blew himself up with his family when U.S. forces raided his hideout in Syria.
His predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died in 2019 with his family after a suicide vest exploded in a tunnel in northwestern Syria during a military operation during the Trump administration.
The Islamic State group controls more than 40,000 square miles at its peak, stretching from Syria to Iraq and controls more than 8 million people. His attacks in the region included a major offensive last month to seize a prison in northeastern Syria where at least 3,000 Islamic State prisoners are being held.
Source: Huffpost
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