US troops capture ISIS official tied to attacks on prisons

It's the third raid against ISIS in Syria in less than a week.

By Nicholas Slayton | Published Feb 18, 2023 6:55 PM EST

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A US soldier walks with an AT4 anti-tank weapon during a joint military exercise between forces of the US-led "Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve" coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya (Derik in Kurdish) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images).

American forces, working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, captured an ISIS provincial official in a helicopter raid in eastern Syria this morning, U.S. Central Command announced.

The ISIS official, identified solely as “Batar,” was ”involved in planning attacks on SDF-guarded detention centers and manufacturing improvised explosive devices,” per CENTCOM. No American or allied fighter was injured, nor were any civilians, CENTCOM said.

No additional information on the raid was immediately available.

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The raid is the latest in recent days targeting ISIS officials and commanders. On Wednesday, U.S. forces killed Ibrahim Al Qahtani, identified as an ISIS official tied to prison breaks. On Thursday, another raid in eastern Syria killed Hamza al-Homsi, an ISIS commander in the region. Four American service members and a military service dog were wounded by an explosion during the raid.

Since the terrorist group’s final stronghold of Baghouz fell in 2019, American troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces have been hunting members of the organization. ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi died last February in a U.S. raid.. His similarly named successor Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in November in a firefight with the anti-Assad forces of the separate Free Syrian Army. In total, American forces carried out 313 operations against the militants in 2022.

The United States has been stepping up anti-ISIS operations in recent months. In January American special operations forces killed an ISIS leader and other members in Somalia. That was notable for being a helicopter raid involving ground combat troops, rather than the airstrikes the U.S. mainly does in Somalia against the militant group al-Shabaab. The three raids this past week mark one of the highest intensities of operations in the last several months.

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Nicholas Slayton

Nicholas Slayton is a contributing editor for Task & Purpose, covering conflict for over 12 years, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine. His previous reporting can be found on the non-profit Aslan Media, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Architectural Digest, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Downtown News. You can reach him at nicholas@taskandpurpose.com or find him on Twitter @NSlayton and Bluesky at @nslayton.bsky.social. Contact the author here.