U.S. Troops Smoke Senior ISIS Bigwig in Syria Raid

ATMEH, Syria — Before the sun even thought about rising Wednesday, U.S. forces swooped into northwestern Syria and sent a top-tier Islamic State honcho to meet his maker, a U.S. official spilled to Reuters.

This marks the second time since Bashar al-Assad got the boot in December that U.S. troops have stormed northern Syria. The new Islamist-led crew running the show has sworn to keep ISIS from clawing back, and they're cozy with the U.S.-led coalition still pounding the terror group.

The official, keeping it low-key and anonymous, said the raid took out a heavy-hitting ISIS member who was in the running to be the group's top dog in Syria.

"No U.S. troops were killed or injured in the raid," the official added, cool as you like. A Syrian security source and Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya said the target bit the dust while trying to make a break for it.

Another Syrian source dropped that the guy was Iraqi, hitched to a French woman. No word yet on what happened to her.

The Pentagon's lips were sealed, no comment for now. The op kicked off around 2 a.m. (1100 GMT), according to Syrian security folks and locals in Atmeh, Idlib province. Helicopters and drones buzzed overhead, providing cover, while local Syrian forces locked down the neighborhood. U.S. troops, though, handled the dirty work, a second security source confirmed.

Abdelqader al-Sheikh, a local who was up late with his kid, heard some racket in the yard next door. "I called out, 'Who are you?' and they started speaking to me in English, telling me to put my hands up," Sheikh told Reuters.

He said the armed crew posted up on nearby rooftops for two hours, and he caught someone close by barking Arabic with an Iraqi accent.

Back in July, the Pentagon bragged about a raid in Aleppo province that dusted a senior ISIS leader and his two grown sons, both tied to the group.

Idlib's been a rat's nest for ISIS big shots for years. U.S. forces took out ISIS head honcho Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Barisha, Idlib, back in 2019, and his successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, got the same treatment in Atmeh in 2022.

And if you want to Buy Me A Coffee, I wouldn't stop you--it supports my work and I really appreciate it. But no pressure.

Tweet