One person was killed in a government-controlled region of northeastern Syria during a US special forces operation involving numerous helicopters, according to Syrian state TV on Thursday.
According to the British-based Observatory for Human Rights, the individual killed in the operation “had been a resident of the region for years and is presumably an Islamic State” group commander.
Without giving an exact number, the monitor said that further individuals had been apprehended.
The war monitoring organization, which depends on a large network of informants in Syria, said, “It is the first such operation in government-held territory.”
Syria’s official media said, without going into more detail, that “US occupation troops carried out a landing operation utilizing multiple helicopters in the hamlet of Muluk Saray in the southern countryside of Qamishli and murdered one individual.”
The Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military said that it presently has “no information to give.”
According to the Observatory and AFP sources, the targeted hamlet is in the hands of Syrian government troops and is located 17 kilometers (10 miles) south of the city of Qamishli.
According to the Observatory, this is the first time US troops have carried out such an operation in territories controlled by the government.
Three US helicopters carrying soldiers had landed in the town, according to a local, during the midnight operation.
According to a local who spoke to AFP on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, US soldiers invaded a residence and killed one individual while capturing a number of others.
During the operation, the resident said that “they utilized loudspeakers to call on residents to remain inside.”
The resident identified the victim as Abu Hayel, a little-known displaced person from the region of Hassakeh.
Washington is a member of the coalition headed by the US that is combating the IS organization in Syria.
In a drone attack in the country’s north in July, the Pentagon claimed to have killed Syria’s senior IS terrorist.
He was ‘one of the top five’ overall Islamic State commanders, according to CENTCOM.
The July attack occurred five months after a US midnight operation in the village of Atmeh, which resulted in the demise of Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, the head of the Islamic State as a whole.
Since his condition prevented him from deploying a suicide vest, the ISIS leader with one leg had rigged his home with explosives and blown himself and his family to bits when US Special Forces arrived.
Officials suspect that al-Qurayshi personally detonated the explosives that murdered him and his family at their house in the tranquil town of Atmeh near the Turkish border on February 2. Al-Qurayshi was located when a drone detected him swimming on the building’s roof last year.
They also said that authorities had made preparations to hand over al-Qurayshi to another government because they believed they had a strong probability of capturing him alive due to his problems with a suicide belt.
Four kids were safely removed from the home by the soldiers from the second story. But a toddler’s body was discovered there. According to officials, the boy was not wounded during the battle but rather died as a result of the third-floor explosion’s concussive effects.
On the second level, with as many as five children, was an ISIS member who was identified as an al-Qurayshi lieutenant. All are said to have perished in the explosion.
The remaining IS in Syria primarily withdrew into desert hideouts after losing their final stronghold in March 2019 as a result of a military offensive supported by a US-led coalition.
Since then, they have continued to carry out strikes in Iraq while using similar hideouts to ambush forces headed by the Kurds and soldiers from the Syrian government.