US military captures 6 ISIS operatives in Syria

The raids, which took place over the past 48 hours in eastern Syria, included the capture of “al-Zubaydi”, a senior ISIS official who US officials claim was involved in planning and enabling terrorist attacks in SyriaThe US military has captured six Islamic State operatives over the course of three helicopter raids in Syria this week, US Central Command announced, according to a report in The Hill, a Washington, DC-based publication. The same report states that, “The raids, which took place over the past 48 hours in eastern Syria, included the capture of “al-Zubaydi”, a senior ISIS official who US officials claim was involved in planning and enabling terrorist attacks in Syria.”The recent raid was the second such operation in over a week. A helicopter raid by the US military in eastern Syria on December 11 killed a lead ISIS province official and his associate. The raids included US Special Operations forces and personnel from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).”These partnered operations reaffirm CENTCOM’s steadfast commitment to the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS. The capture of these ISIS operatives will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further the plot and carry out destabilizing attacks,” said CENTCOM Commander General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, in a press release, according to The Hill. Initial investments show that no civilians were killed or injured during the raids.According to The Hill: “This month’s raids mark the first major American counterterrorism operation in northeastern Syria since the US military in October conducted two strikes against the terrorist group, killing an ISIS weapons smuggler”. Recently, The Islamic State (ISIS) group said that its leader Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi had been killed in battle and announced a replacement.