US Forces Kill ISIS Leader in Syrian Airstrike

A mural bears the logo of the ISIS terrorist group in the village of Albu Sayf, Iraq, on March 1, 2017. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. forces in Syria killed a leader of Islamist terror group ISIS during an airstrike in Syria this week.

The Dec. 19 strikes targeted ISIS leader Abu Yusif and another operative in Syria’s Dayr az Zawr province, according to a statement by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in the region.

U.S. forces have been deployed to Syria since 2014 as part of an international mission to erode and destroy ISIS’s presence in the region and to prevent its spread throughout the Middle East.

CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said that ISIS leadership was currently trying to take advantage of the political uncertainty in Syria following the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad after more than a decade of civil war.

“ISIS has the intent to break out of detention the over 8,000 ISIS operatives currently being held in facilities in Syria,” Kurilla said.

“We will aggressively target these leaders and operatives, including those trying to conduct operations external to Syria.”

The announcement comes just a day after the Pentagon acknowledged there are 2,000 U.S. service members on the ground in Syria, more than twice as many as the 900 previously stated.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon on Dec. 19, Department of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the 1,100 additional troops were considered “rotational forces” but that the number of troops had remained at 2,000 or so for months.

“These forces, which augment the Defeat ISIS mission, were there before the fall of the Assad regime,” Ryder said.

“I don’t have a specific date to provide but my understanding is it’s been for a while.”

Following Assad’s fall, national leadership in Syria appears poised to be led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is currently designated as a terrorist organization due to its historic ties to al-Qaeda.

HTS leader Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa previously fought against U.S. troops in Iraq and has claimed to have been arrested and imprisoned in the notorious Abu Ghraib facility.

Sharaa and HTS have attempted to project a more moderate image in recent years, promising protection for minority faiths and Syria’s existing rights for women.

The group has also offered amnesty to former soldiers in Assad’s army and released at least one U.S. citizen found in a Syrian prison.

U.S. diplomats are in Damascus where they hope to convince HTS to take a more moderate stance than their Islamist roots might suggest.

A key part of those talks is persuading the group to prevent the resurgence of ISIS in Syria and to allow U.S. forces to continue their mission there.

“As stated before, the United States—working with allies and partners in the region—will not allow ISIS to take advantage of the current situation in Syria and reconstitute,” Kurilla said.