American army forces in Syria killed three high Islamic State officers in two separate operations over the previous 24 hours, US officers mentioned.
The Islamic State’s deputy commander in Syria — one of many jihadist group’s top-five rating leaders whom US army officers named as Abu Hashum al-Umawi, aka Abu ‘Ala — was killed in a drone strike in northern Syria round 6:23 p.m. native time on Thursday.
That strike additionally killed a second IS official, Abu Mu’advert al-Qahtani, whom US officers mentioned was chargeable for prisoner affairs. Greater than 1,000 hours of intelligence assortment led to the operation, army officers mentioned.
The exact location of Thursday’s drone strike was not instantly clear, nevertheless it got here a number of hours after a uncommon helicopter-borne US particular operations raid close to the northeastern Syrian metropolis of Qamishli left one other Islamic State operative lifeless and noticed at the least two of his associates captured.
Rakkan Wahid al-Shammari, a senior IS official suspected of smuggling weapons and fighters for the jihadist group, was focused by US particular operators within the in a single day kill-or-capture raid on Wednesday.
American forces have been unable to seize Shammari alive, one US official briefed on the operation mentioned, with out elaborating additional. That official and one different instructed Al-Monitor on situation of anonymity that Shammari was concerned within the latest beheading of two captured Syrian Kurdish militia officers.
Neither civilians nor US troops have been injured because of this the raid, US Central Command (CENTCOM) mentioned in a assertion right now. “US CENTCOM is dedicated to our allies and companions within the enduring defeat of ISIS,” spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino mentioned.
Whether or not Shammari’s associates have been affiliated with IS or native pro-Syrian regime militias was not instantly clear. A US official talking not for attribution mentioned Russian army items within the space weren’t alerted upfront of the raid, regardless of frequent use by either side of a shared de-escalation cellphone line.
Why it issues: The strikes come lower than a month after US and Kurdish forces rounded up greater than 300 jihadist operatives contained in the sprawling al-Hol detention camp for IS households in a weeks-long operation that offered a trove of intelligence.
Kurdish forces thwarted a main IS counterattack on the camp late final month after a automobile bomb detonated prematurely on the way in which to the ability.
Some 900 US troops stay in Syria in assist of Kurdish and Arab militias within the wake of the multinational battle towards the Islamic State. The jihadist group was defeated on the battlefield on the Battle of Baghouz in March 2019, however maintains a low-level insurgency in some rural areas of Iraq and Syria.
Some 56,000 relations of IS fighters stay within the al-Hol camp, dubbed “a humanitarian disaster” by the commander of all American army forces within the Center East final month.
Pentagon officers proceed to warn that al-Hol and the opposite makeshift services holding tens of hundreds of IS prisoners in northeast Syria are usually not sustainable, and that the jihadist group’s remaining sleeper cells proceed to attempt to recruit prisoners and stage breakout makes an attempt.
What’s subsequent: The US-led coalition shifted to the ultimate part of its defeat-IS mission in 2020, however there’s no signal of an American withdrawal on the horizon.
Whereas a lot progress has been made coaching and equipping Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces, the Pentagon assesses each stay unable to maintain ample stress on the jihadist group with out restricted native US army assist.
With out heavy weapons or plane of their very own, Syria’s Kurdish militia forces are notably susceptible to assault from Turkey, whose authorities considers them a terrorist group inextricable from the Kurdistan Employees Social gathering (PKK).
In July, Dana Stroul, the Pentagon’s high official for Center East coverage, publicly referred to as for a resumption of peace talks between Turkey’s authorities and the PKK, warning that Ankara’s threats to assault the Kurdish forces in Syria dangers springing some 10,000 IS fighters from jail.
Know extra: Learn Jared Szuba’s report on renewed US army assist for Iraq’s Kurdistan area because the hunt for IS sleeper cells carries on.
