U.S. Central Command announced on Tuesday that U.S. and Syrian forces had captured an ISIS leader who helped other terrorists escape from a Syrian detention facility.
ISIS boss Khaled Ahmed al-Dandar was captured on Sunday after CENTCOM and the Syrian National Defense Forces found him to have been assisting ISIS fighters in the escape from a detention facility in Raqqa, Syria, according to a statement from the Syrian Central Command.
“ISIS's primary objective is to secure the release of combatants currently in captivity and subsequently support the resurgence of ISIS,” the combatant command said. “CENTCOM forces will continue to work in conjunction with the SDF to mitigate the threat of escapes and ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
Al-Dandar's arrest came after five other “ISIS foreign terrorist fighters” detainees – Russians Timor Talbulken Abdash and Imam Abdulwahed Akwan, Libyan Mohammed Noh Mohammed, and Afghans Shu'ab Mohammed Al Abdulli and Athar Khaled Zahr – escaped from a detention centre on Thursday.
Al-Dandar is said to have assisted five others, including Akwan and Mohammed, who were later recaptured by Syrian forces.
Gen. Michael Eric Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command for the Middle East, said al-Dandar's capture was key to preventing ISIS fighters from aiding the terror group's attempts to regroup in Syria.
“More than 9,000 ISIS detainees remain in more than 20 SDF detention facilities across Syria, literally and figuratively holding 'ISIS forces,'” Kurila said. “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.
US Central Command said two months ago that ISIS was gaining strength again, with the number of attacks by the group in Syria and Iraq expected to double in 2023.
As of July, the terrorist group claimed 153 attacks in the region in 2024 alone.
