US special forces carried out a midnight raid deep into the heart of government-controlled territory in Syria that killed an ‘ISIS leader’ and took others captive, two security sources confirmed to Reuters.
Local sources said that US troops landed in the village Muluk Saray in the countryside of the Qamishli region in northeast Syria, where territory is controlled in part by US-backed Kurdish fighters and partly by the Russia-backed government.
Sources told news channel Al Mayadeen that the victim was named Rakan Abu Hayel, originally from the village of Tuwaimin in the eastern countryside.
The family of the slain man and members of another family were arrested and taken into US custody, they claim, with some saying that at least two of those captured were part of a pro-Assad militia — though that remains unconfirmed.
Security officials later told Reuters that the man killed was ‘a key IS leader present’ responsible for coordination among the ISIS sleeper cells in the area.
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