Since the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, the international coalition led by Washington has regularly carried out air operations against suspected members of the jihadist group.
US forces announced on Tuesday December 20 that they had captured six members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, including a commander, during three operations carried out in the past 48 hours in eastern Syria.
Since the defeat of ISIS in Syria in 2019, the international coalition led by Washington has regularly carried out air operations against suspected members of the group.
3 raids conducted by helicopter
In a statement, the US military command for the Middle East (Centcom) indicated that its forces “carried out three helicopter raids in eastern Syria that resulted in the arrest of six IS members“. One of them is a leader of the jihadist group, identified as al-Zoubaydi, “involved in planning and facilitating ISIS attacks in Syria“.
“The initial toll indicates that there were no civilian casualties“, adds the press release. “The capture of these IS members will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to continue planning and carrying out destabilizing attacks.said Centcom Commander General Michael Kurilla.
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According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the raids were carried out in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by Kurdish fighters. Two raids were carried out in the province of Deir Ezzor (east) and a third in the province of Hassaké (north-east), under the control of Kurdish forces.
Four of those arrested are active in the arms trade for the benefit of IS, according to OSDH, a UK-based group with an extensive network of sources in Syria. In northern Syria, the OSDH reported that a coalition drone targeted, on Tuesday morning, a house in the center of Al-Bab, a city in the north of the governorate of Aleppo, controlled by Syrian factions. loyal to Turkey.
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Death of IS leader in 2019
An IS leader in the Arabian Peninsula was injured, according to the OSDH, as well as two civilians. Members of pro-Turkish factions set up a cordon around the destroyed house, an AFP photographer reported. A medical source at a city hospital told AFP that “an injured man with a Yemeni accent was taken to hospital after the attackbefore Turkish forces escorted him to an unknown location.
On October 27, 2019, the United States announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US operation in northwestern Syria. In 2022, two other IS leaders were killed, one in February by US special forces in the northwest and the other in October by ex-rebels in southern Deraa province. supported by the regime.