A senior leader of the Islamic State group in Syria was targeted in a US helicopter raid on Monday. The leader was suspected of planning terror attacks in Europe and the Middle East, according to US Central Command. The raid resulted in the probable death of the target and two other armed individuals, with no civilians or US troops hurt. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the strike killed the main target and two other fighters.
The leader had previously been imprisoned in Kurdish-held Manbij, south of Jarabulus, and had taken refuge in the Al-Suwaydah area under the protection of a pro-Turkish group. A Turkish-backed rebel group deployed in the area said two of its fighters were killed after they went to the site of the raid. Many former IS militants joined pro-Turkish groups after the jihadists lost their last territories in Syria.
The US military announced earlier this month that it had killed senior IS leader Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, who was responsible for planning attacks in Turkey and Europe. In October 2019, Washington announced it had killed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an operation in northwestern Syria. His two successors have also been killed.
Around 900 US troops remain in Syria, most in the Kurdish-administered northeast, as part of a coalition battling remnants of IS, which remains active in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
