WATCH: Rare Video Captures U.S. Commando ISIS Prison Raid

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New video footage appears to show the joint U.S.-Kurdish raid on an ISIS prison in Iraq last week that left a U.S. commando dead
New video footage appears to show the joint U.S.-Kurdish raid on an ISIS prison in Iraq last week that left a U.S. commando dead

WASHINGTON — (Scroll down for video) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he made the decision that U.S. Special Forces would assist Iraqi peshmerga partners in the raid on an ISIS prison in Iraq to rescue 70 hostages after intelligence indicated a mass execution was imminent.

By having U.S. forces accompanying Iraqi peshmerga fighters and providing airlift support for the hostages, lives were saved and a “significant cache of intelligence was collected,” the defense secretary told Pentagon reporters.

Carter expressed his condolences to the family of U.S. Army Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, who died from his wounds when ISIL forces attacked U.S. and peshmerga fighters.

The secretary emphasized that since he became defense secretary early this year, he has ensured the Defense Department would remain “laser-focused on the execution of our counter-ISIL strategy.”

Delivering the lasting defeat to ISIL “will require us to learn, evolve and adapt over the course of a determined campaign to carry out this strategy,” he said.

The rescued hostages had “expected to be executed that day” by their ISIL captors, Carter said.

He added, “Not only did our support help prevent another mass killing, we enabled those partners of ours to deliver ISIL a clear defeat, and prevented them from broadcasting a horrific massacre to the world.”

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