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Iranian on terror watchlist caught at southern border
Bill Melugin reports the latest on the Fox News exclusive from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.
The United States military announced Saturday that it conducted a helicopter raid in eastern Syria that yielded the capture of a top ISIS official.
In a press release, CENTCOM announced that U.S. Central Command forces worked with the Syrian military to conduct a helicopter raid which led to the capture of an ISIS official identified as Batar.
The press release says that Batar was “involved in planning attacks on SDF-guarded detention centers and manufacturing improvised explosive devices.”
No civilians, Syrian soldiers, or U.S. forces were killed or injured, according to the press release.
ISIS OFFICIAL INVOLVED IN PLANNING PRISON BREAKS KILLED BY US AND COALITION FORCES IN SYRIA, CENTCOM SAYS
A “supermoon” shines as a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter gunner scans the desert while transporting troops on May 26, 2021 over northeastern Syria. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Shortly after the press release, CENTCOM issued another release stating that coalition forces had been attacked by rockets in northeast Syria on Saturday evening but said no injuries were reported.
News of the successful raid comes the day after CENTCOM announced that four U.S. service members were injured during a raid that left a senior ISIS leader dead.
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ISIS in its former “caliphate” capital of Raqqa, Syria (AP)
CENTCOM confirmed the death of Hamza al-Homsi during the helicopter raid and said that all four U.S. service members, along with a working dog, were being treated for their injuries at a U.S. medical facility in Iraq.
“Hamza al-Homsi oversaw the group’s deadly terrorist network in eastern Syria before he was killed in the raid,” CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino told Fox News Digital.
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US forces patrol in the vicinity of the Hori rehabilitation centre for children of suspected Islamic State (IS) group, in the town of Tel Maaruf in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province, on December 15, 2022. (Photo by Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)
Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., told Fox News Digital that “the U.S. presence in northeast Syria is still essential to end ISIS.”
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and Peter Aitken contributed to this report
Andrew Mark Miller is a writer at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].