Six ISIS operatives captured in eastern Syria: USCENTCOM

Among the individuals captured is “al-Zubaydi, an Islamic State Syria Province senior official, who planned and facilitated ISIS attacks in Syria.”
A joint military exercise between forces of the US-led coalition against the IS group and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province (Photo: AFP)
A joint military exercise between forces of the US-led coalition against the IS group and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The United States Central Command (USCENTOM) announced on Tuesday that six ISIS operatives had been captured over the past 48 hours during three helicopter raids in eastern Syria.

Among the individuals captured is “al-Zubaydi, an Islamic State Syria Province senior official, who planned and facilitated ISIS attacks in Syria,” according to the announcement.

No civilians were killed or injured during the operation, according to the USCENTCOM’s initial assessments.

The CENTCOM Commander Michael “Erik” Kurilla reported that, “these partnered operations reaffirm CENTCOM’s steadfast commitment to the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS,” and stressed, “the capture of these ISIS operatives will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks.”

On December 11, US Central Command forces conducted a successful helicopter raid in eastern Syria, resulting in the killing of two ISIS officials.

Read More: US kills two ISIS officials in eastern Syria: CENTCOM

On November 20, a week after the November 13 bombing in downtown Istanbul that killed six people, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began to attack the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with air and artillery strikes and threatened that a ground operation would follow.

The Turkish attacks on the SDF came perilously close to US forces, resulting in the US suspension of joint patrols with the SDF. On December 6, however, as reported by the Washington Post, US commanders were preparing to resume operations.

Read More: US confirms resumption of operations with SDF in northeast Syria