BEIRUT – The U.S.-led coalition has carried out a ground operation in eastern Syria aimed at capturing leaders of the Islamic State, U.S. officials and Syrian activist networks said Monday.
The raid took place on Sunday near a small town along the Euphrates River valley to the north of the city of Deir al-Zour, deep in the heart of Islamic State territory, according to the activists.
Troops who landed on helicopters spent around 90 minutes in the area, then left carrying Islamic State captives and bodies, according to witnesses quoted by the website Deir al-Zour 24, which monitors Islamic State activity in the province.
Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, confirmed that the raid had taken place but declined to provide details or say whether any leaders had been seized during the operation.
“The Coalition can confirm a U.S. operation in the vicinity of Deir al-Zour on Jan. 8. The U.S. and the entire counter-ISIL Coalition will continue to pursue ISIL leaders wherever they are to ensure the security and stability of the region and our homelands,” he said in an email. ISIL is another name for the Islamic State.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 25 Islamic State members were killed in the operation. Another activist group, Sound and Picture, said two Islamic State prisoners also were freed, but the details could not be independently confirmed.
The U.S.-led coalition has in recent months targeted and killed a string of senior Islamic State officials with drone strikes, but ground raids aimed at capturing leaders are rare. The most successful capture was that of a top financier, Abu Sayaf, in May 2015, also in the province of Deir al-Zour. In July 2014, U.S. Special Operations forces landed near the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa to rescue Western hostages, but failed to find any. A U.S. soldier died in another raid in the Iraqi town of Hawija in October 2015 that also failed to find Kurdish hostages believed to be there.
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