As the US steps up its counter-ISIS operations, defense officials said Monday that an ISIS leader in Syria has been captured by US and coalition forces for aiding ISIS terrorists after escaping from a top detention facility.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces on Sunday captured Khaled Ahmed al-Dandar, who was found to be helping achieve one of the terrorist organization's primary objectives: freeing captured militant fighters and reviving ISIS.
Al-Dandar, who is considered an “ISIS intermediary” by the Central Command, helped support the five ISIS terrorists who escaped from Raqqa detention center on Thursday, but it is unclear whether he also helped secure their escape from the prison.
Syrian Kurdish security forces watch as former detainees suspected of being members of the Islamic State are released in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on September 2, 2024. (Photo: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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SDF fighters recaptured two ISIS fighters, including Russian Imam Abdulwahid Akwan and Libyan Mohammed Noh Mohammed.
One other Russian, Timor Talbulken Abdash, and two Afghans, Shu'ab Muhammad al-Abdli and Athar Khaled Zahr, remain at large.
“More than 9,000 ISIS detainees remain in more than 20 SDF detention facilities across Syria, literally and figuratively holding 'ISIS forces' in custody,” CENTCOM Gen. Michael Eric Kurilla said in a statement. “If many of these ISIS fighters were to escape, they would pose an enormous danger to the region and beyond.”
“We will continue to work with the international community to repatriate these ISIS fighters to their countries of origin for final sentencing,” he added.
News of the arrests comes just four days after U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted a raid on ISIS leaders in western Iraq on August 29, killing 15 ISIS terrorists, according to CENTCOM.
The operation was aimed at “disrupting and degrading ISIS's ability to plan, organize and carry out attacks against Iraqi civilians, and U.S. citizens, allies and partners in the region and beyond,” CENTCOM said. X said in a post on Friday..
Iraqi soldiers celebrate with an Islamic State flag captured during a military operation to retake a village on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, on November 29, 2016. A decade after the Islamic State declared a caliphate across large swaths of Iraq and Syria, the militants now control no land, have lost many of their prominent founding leaders and have all but disappeared from global news headlines. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
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“ISIS forces were armed with a large number of weapons, grenades and explosive 'suicide' belts,” the command added, noting that no civilians were injured during the operation.
Dr Rebecca Grant, vice president of the Lexington Institute in Washington DC, told Fox News that the US, working with allied forces across the Middle East, has carried out around 200 operations against ISIS this year alone, including airstrikes and raids.
“The Mission to Defeat ISIS is actually very active as ISIS attacks increase in that region around Iraq and Syria,” she said, calling the operation a “real success.”
Seven U.S. soldiers were wounded in the operation, but the extent of their injuries is unclear.
U.S. soldiers prepare to depart on a patrol from a remote combat outpost in northeastern Syria, May 25, 2021. U.S. troops, part of Task Force WARCLUB, operate from combat outposts in the region to work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to fight remaining ISIS militants and deter pro-Iranian militias. (John Moore/Getty Images)
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“Five US soldiers were injured during the operation, one of whom was evacuated for further treatment. Two additional US soldiers were injured in a fall during the operation, one of whom was also evacuated from the field for further treatment. All are in stable condition,” a US defense official told Fox News Digital.
CENTCOM says it remains “committed” to working with allied nations in the Middle East to “defeat” ISIS and ensure stability in the region.
Liz Frieden and Sarah Rumpf Whitten contributed to this report.
