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U.S. forces conducted an overnight operation in Syria and successfully captured senior ISIS leader Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi.
Al-Kurdi was an experienced bomb-maker who is accused of killing innocent people. He was also known as the “Wali of Raqqa,” a term meaning he was the guardian or governor of the area.
“The mission was meticulously planned to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to civilians,” Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, said in a statement.
“There were no civilians harmed during the operation nor any damage to Coalition aircraft or assets.”
U.S. troops were dropped by two helicopters in al-Humayra, close to the Turkish border.
According to BBC, there were seven minutes of fire between the troops and people inside the village.
Then the helicopters flew off. U.S. forces raided the house of resident Mohammed Youssef at on the edge of the village.
“After the helicopters left, we went towards the house and found the women tied up and the children in the field,” he told AFP news agency.
“They took one man with them, but we don’t know where the other men are. After we untied them [the women], they said: ‘They took a man named Fawaz.'”
More on this story via BBC:
The coalition statement said the mission was “meticulously planned to minimize the risk of collateral damage or civilian harm”.
“The operation was successful; no civilians were harmed nor were there injuries to coalition forces or damage to coalition aircraft or assets.”
The Washington Post cited US officials as saying the captured IS leader was Ahmed Kurdi and that he was also known as the “wali”, or governor, of Raqqa.
Raqqa is a city east of Aleppo that was the de facto capital of the “caliphate” proclaimed by IS in 2014, after it seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq and imposed its brutal rule on millions of people.
Fox News added:
ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi detonated a suicide vest and killed himself in northwest Syria earlier this year during a U.S. Special Operations counterterrorism mission
Before that, another former leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, killed himself in northern Syria in October 2019 when U.S. Special Operations forces entered a compound where he was located.
“Coalition forces will continue to hunt the remnants of Daesh wherever they hide to ensure their enduring defeat,” Operation Inherent Resolve said.
