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)
The United States Central Command announced on July 25 that its forces killed a senior commander of ISIS during an early morning raid in the city of al-Bab in the northern Syrian governorate of Aleppo.
In a statement, the command said that the commander, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, was killed along with his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani, in the raid.
The three “posed a threat to U.S. and Coalition Forces, as well as the new Syrian Government,” the command added, noting that three women and three children who were present with the slain men were unharmed.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists wherever they are. ISIS terrorists are not safe where they sleep, where they operate, and where they hide. Alongside our partners and allies, U.S. Central Command is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS terrorists that threaten the region, our allies, and our homeland,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, U.S. Central Command Commander.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said that the U.S.-led coalition carried out the raid in partnership with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the General Security Service (GSS) of Syria’s interim government.
Video footage taken during the raid shows members of the GSS blocking the roads leading to the compound that was raided by U.S. forces, which indicate that the operation was at least coordinated with the interim government. However, there is not indication that the SDF took part in the raid, which happened outside the areas its control in northern and eastern Syria.
It’s worth noting that three of ISIS leaders, including the terrorist group founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, were killed in similar raids in northern Syria in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Al-Baghdadi and his successor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi were killed by U.S. forces, while Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, the fourth “caliph” of the group, was killed by the Turkish military.
The latest raid in al-Bab shows that the U.S., which withdrew some of its forces from Syria earlier this year, is not planning to leave the war-torn country any time soon.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
