“U.S. Central Command forces successfully conducted a helicopter raid in northern Syria, Sept. 23, 2023. Abu Halil al-Fad’ani, an ISIS Syria Operational and Facilitation official, was captured during the raid,” the CENTCOM release said. “Al-Fad’ani was assessed to have relationships throughout the ISIS network in the region.”
In a northern Syrian helicopter raid on Monday, the U.S. military announced the capture of an operative affiliated with the Islamic State extremist group. U.S. Central Command revealed that the captured individual, identified as Abu Halil al-Fad’ani, had extensive connections within the ISIS network in the region.
This successful operation, which took place last Saturday, has heightened the prospects of further targeting additional members of the group in U.S. counterterrorism efforts, according to Lieutenant Colonel Troy Garlock, the spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command.
According to the release, no civilians were killed or injured in the raid.
“The capture of ISIS officials like al-Fad’ani increases our ability to locate, target, and remove terrorist from the battlefield,” Garlock said in the release. “USCENTCOM remains committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
The United States currently maintains a presence of approximately 900 troops in Syria, primarily dedicated to countering the remnants of the Islamic State group, which had controlled a significant portion of Syria until 2019.
In related developments, U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces have implemented a curfew in response to ongoing clashes with rival Arab militiamen. Reports from Syrian media and activists indicate that the Syrian Democratic Forces enforced the curfew in various towns in Deir el-Zour province, including Ziban, which is in close proximity to the Iraqi border where American forces are stationed. The region, rich in oil resources, hosts a significant presence of U.S. troops since 2015.
It’s important to note that Syria continues to grapple with a brutal 12-year civil war that has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. The Syrian government, led by President Bashar Assad in Damascus, views the Kurdish-led forces as separatist combatants and has criticized their collaboration with the United States in the fight against Islamic State militants and their self-governed enclave in eastern Syria.
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SOURCE
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-military-captures-key-islamic-state-militant-helicopter-103475795