Tuesday, May 14

U.S. helicopter raid in Syria targets an Islamic State chief

BEIRUT (AP) — A helicopter raid by U.S. forces in northern Syria early on Monday resulted within the “probable death” of a senior chief of the militant Islamic State group, the U.S. army stated.

The U.S. Central Command stated in a press release that the IS chief, who was not named, was “responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe.” Two different “armed individuals” have been killed together with the goal of the raid, CENTCOM stated. The assertion stated no civilians or U.S. troops have been damage within the operation.

Syria’s White Helmets, a civil protection group working in opposition-held areas of northern Syria, stated it transported two individuals wounded through the raid to a neighborhood hospital, which later stated that they had died. A 3rd particular person was killed when the U.S. forces landed for the raid, the White Helmets stated.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which companions with the U.S. in anti-IS operations in northeast Syria, stated that the operation was launched from a base close to the city of Kobani and focused a army web site belonging to a Turkish-backed armed opposition group, Suqour al-Shamal, within the village of Suwayda within the area of Jarablus, close to the Turkish border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based struggle monitor, reported that the raid had resulted within the arrest of a senior IS chief and killed three individuals. The U.S. army made no point out of any arrests.

The Observatory stated “violent clashes” passed off after the helicopter landed, the primary such touchdown this 12 months.

At least 900 U.S. troops are deployed in Syria, together with an undisclosed variety of contractors.

The Islamic State group, which swept by way of Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking management of enormous swaths of territory, was defeated in Syria in 2019, however sleeper cells preserve a presence and periodically stage assaults on army and civilian targets.

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