The United States conducted rare airstrikes that led to the killing of two ISIS leaders in Syria along with one member of the terrorist group.
The first strike was a rare helicopter raid conducted on a government-held village in the northeastern part of the country. It resulted in the death of an Islamic State militant who was hiding out in one of the buildings.
US Kills ISIS Leaders
A separate US airstrike on Thursday resulted in the killing of two others, the United States military said. While the US government has previously conducted raids in Syria against members of Islamic State, the recent strikes would be the first known operations against the terrorist group in a zone held by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
US special forces on Thursday carried out a rare operation on the government-held village of Muluk Saray located in the northeastern province of Hasakeh. In a statement, the US military's Central Command said that the target of the strike was Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri, a member of the Islamic state, as per Reuters.
American officials said that the target was known to facilitate the smuggling of weapons and fighters into the region. They added that he was killed during the operation, while one of his associates was wounded and two others were detained by American forces.
The Florida-based Central Command, which oversees American troops in the Middle East, said that no US forces were injured or killed during the operation. It added that no civilians were killed or wounded and there was no loss or damage to US equipment.
According to CNN, the two leaders killed in a separate airstrike were identified as Abu 'Ala, who is one of the top five ISIS leaders and the deputy leader of ISIS in Syria, along with Abu Mu'Ad al-Qahtani, an ISIS official responsible for prisoner affairs.
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Rare Operations
The Central Command's forces in the region spent more than 1,000 hours collecting intelligence on their targets to limit the risk of collateral damage, said American officials. This was further supported by initial assessments that there were no civilian injuries or casualties.
The United States government has continued to pursue targets of ISIS leadership in Syria even as the terrorist group has already been reduced to a fraction of its former infamy. The two back-to-back raids in a short period of time represent an increase in the intensity of the operations conducted against ISIS and underscore the US' focus on ensuring that it does not gain strength.
One defense official said that the helicopter raid was a unilateral US operation and did not involve the coalition to defeat ISIS. The operation involved US special operations forces using helicopters.
The U.S. did not notify the Russian military about the operations, despite the latter being aligned with Syrian forces and operating in the area. A spokesman for the US Central Command, Col. Joe Buccino, released a statement saying that USCENTCOM is committed to its allies and partners in the enduring defeat of ISIS, NBC News reported.
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