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During an early-morning operation in Syria on Thursday, a US-led coalition said it had seized a senior Islamic State group leader.
The alliance conducts raids and strikes against jihadists who have been waging insurgent operations since their loss on the battlefield three years ago.
According to the statement, “the apprehended man was regarded an adept bomb maker and facilitator who ascended to become one of the group’s top leaders in Syria,” adding that no civilians or planes were injured or damaged during the operation.
The coalition didn’t say where the raid took place in Syria on Thursday.
Coalition forces carried out a helicopter raid in the village of Al-Humaira just south of the Turkish border, a representative for a separate Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group told Reuters earlier on Thursday.
Major Youssef Hamoud, a spokesman for the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), said that American-made Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters were engaged, but that the circumstances were unknown at the moment.
According to him, “this is the first (U.S.) helicopter landing operation” in SNA-controlled territory.
During the operation, confrontations erupted, according to a source in touch with local rebels.
In February, US special forces conducted a helicopter operation in Syria’s Idlib province, which was controlled by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), killing Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi.
Quraishi has been in charge of the group since its founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a US raid in 2019.
