US military captures ISIS official in Syria in helicopter raid
U.S. forces captured an Islamic State official during a helicopter raid in northern Syria over the weekend, U.S. Central Command announced Monday.
American troops “successfully conducted a helicopter raid” on Saturday, capturing Abu Halil al-Fad’ani, an ISIS Syria operational and facilitation official “assessed to have relationships throughout the ISIS network in the region,” according to a CENTCOM statement.
“The capture of ISIS officials like al-Fad’ani increases our ability to locate, target, and remove terrorist from the battlefield,” CENTCOM spokesperson Lt. Col. Troy Garlock said in the release.
The U.S. military claims that no civilians were killed or injured during this operation.
Washington keeps roughly 900 troops in northeastern Syria to keep ISIS from reemerging and to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in that effort.
U.S. forces in the past year have held a string of helicopter raids in the region to capture ISIS officials, including several in April.
CENTCOM officials say these missions disrupt the militant group’s ability to plot and carry out operations.