AIR FORCE HELICOPTER CREW RESCUES FEMALE HIKER – The 943rd Rescue Group had to use night vision goggles to rescue a severely injured hiker. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald/Released)
An unidentified force landed from helicopters and raided a compound near the town of al-Kawm in the central Syrian governorate of Homs, Syrian activists reported on May 25.
The compound, located in an area known as the al-Rabayeh Valley some 15 kilometers to the east of al-Kawm in the eastern Homs countryside, is reported to be owned by Bani Shuwaikh, a small local Arab tribe. Members of the tribe lived in the compound, which was also used to store fodder, according to the activists.
In the hours leading to the raids, fighter jets were reported over the southern governorate of Daraa, then al-Suwaday and later Homs.
Some of the activists said that the force that raided the compound near al-Kawm captured a man, while others alleged that the man was killed there and his body was taken. All sources, however, confirmed that the force blew up the compound before withdrawing.
The United States conducted several similar raids in Syria over in recent years mainly targeting senior members of ISIS, with the most known one being Operation Kayla Mueller of 2019 which resulted in the killing of the founder and first leader of the terrorist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the town of Barisha in the northern governorate of Idlib.
To this day, the U.S. maintains hundreds of troops in Syria, some of whom are deployed at a garrison in the southeastern area of al-Tan, which is not far off from al-Kawm.
However, the reported raid near al-Kawm may have been carried out by another side. Syrian activists who spotted the fighter jets over Daraa and al-Suwayda a few hours before the raid identified them as Israeli.
Right after the fall of the Assad regime late in 2024, Israeli troops invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the buffer zone in the southern governorate of al-Qunitra.
Israel later launched hundreds of strikes destroying most of the country’s military capabilities. At the time, Syrian activists reported a series of Israeli helicopter raids deep in Syria, although these reports were never confirmed by the new authorities in the country or Israel.
Whether it was conducted by the U.S. or Israel, the raid in al-Kawm is highly unusual and it is very likely that the target was of a very high importance.
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