The U.S. military killed a senior ISIS leader in a raid in Syria on Friday, as well as two of his ISIS-affiliated sons, according to a release from U.S. Central Command.
The senior leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, as well as his two adult sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani, “posed a threat to U.S. and coalition forces, as well as the new Syrian Government,” the CENTCOM release said. Three children and three women who were on-site were unharmed. Few other details about the raid were provided.
While the U.S. has conducted anti-ISIS missions with partner forces without some regularity over recent months and years, it is less common for U.S. forces to conduct ground raid operations instead of airstrikes.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists wherever they operate,” CENTCOM commander Gen. Erik Kurilla said in the release. “ISIS terrorists are not safe where they sleep, where they operate, and where they hide.”
Over recent months and years, the U.S. has continued supporting and conducting anti-ISIS missions with partner and coalition forces in Syria and Iraq. In May, the U.S. military supported six operations — five in Iraq, one in Syria — which resulted in the death of two ISIS operatives and the detention of two others, including an ISIS leader, CENTCOM said last month.
In March, the U.S. military conducted a precision airstrike in Iraq and killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, the terror group’s chief of operations and Delegated Committee Emir, and one other ISIS operative.
The U.S. announced it was beginning a withdrawal of roughly half its forces in Syria in April, which the Pentagon said was a sign of the “significant steps” made towards degrading ISIS capabilities in the region. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said at the time that the U.S. military would ultimately have less than a thousand U.S. forces in the country as a result.
Friday’s raid comes just weeks after the Trump administration said it was revoking the foreign terrorist organization designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group once led by Syria’s interim president. It also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order officially ending U.S. sanctions on Syria.
By Haley Britzky, CNN
