US helicopter forces on Monday targeted a leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in northern Syria who was responsible for attacks in Europe and the Middle East and who was “likely” killed, the US Army said.
The new raid, part of a series of US attacks aimed at beheading ISIS after its defeat in Syria in 2019, was carried out in an area in the north of the country controlled by pro-Turkish armed groups.
Two other “armed persons” were killed in the attack, according to a press release from the US Military Command for the Middle East (Centcom).
Centcom does not reveal the identity of the IS leader who was attacked, nor of the two people killed.
No civilians or members of the American armed forces were killed or injured during the operation, the same source assured.
A Turkish group stationed in the Soueida region, where the raid took place, said two of their fighters who rushed to the scene were killed.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which has an extensive network of sources in the region, “violent clashes erupted during the raid, during which two projectiles were aimed at the building where an ISIS member was located.”
He and two other militants were killed, the UK-based Observatory says.
In early April, the US military announced that it had killed an IS leader in Syria who was responsible for attacks in Europe, whom it identified as Khaled Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Europe during its tenure, when it controlled large areas of Syria and Iraq, where it proclaimed a “caliphate” and reigned in terror.
In October 2019, the United States announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during an American operation in northwestern Syria. As a result, his two successors were killed: one in February 2022 in north-western Syria and the other in November of the same year in Deraa province (south).
Despite its territorial defeat, IS continues to carry out regular attacks in Syria, where on Sunday the jihadist group again targeted people collecting truffles in the desert and herdsmen, killing more than 40 people.
The 2011 war in Syria, sparked by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, claimed the lives of around 500,000 people, destroyed the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people.