Iran Press/ Middle East: A helicopter raid by the United States forces in northern Syria early Monday (April 17) resulted in the “probable death” of a senior leader of the Islamic State militant group, said the US Central Command (CENTCOM), in a statement. This also comes a week after the US military captured an ISIS operative and two of his associates in eastern Syria.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was the primary target of a “unilateral helicopter raid” carried out early on Monday morning.
The statement described him as a “leader and operational planner responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe”.
Monday’s raid came following intelligence indicating ISIL was planning to kidnap officials abroad, CENTCOM said.
Two other members of the group were also killed, its statement said.
CENTCOM did not offer any other details about the operation.
ISIS and other terrorist groups in 2017 collapsed and were defeated after four years of extensive terrorist operations in Syria, Iraq while occupying major parts of these two countries. However, its cells and remnants still carry out operations against civilians and security forces in Iraq and Syria.
The US government, as one of the creators and supporters of the ISIS terror group that is illegally present on Syrian soil, is an accomplice in the continued crimes of the group and the persistence of insecurity in Syria. 219
