BEIRUT ( Associated Press) – US helicopters killed two Islamic State group militants in eastern Syria on Sunday, the Central Command said.
Covert IS cells continue to carry out attacks in Syria and Iraq. For some years the group controlled territories in both countries, but was expelled in 2019.
In its statement, the United States Central Command did not specify the location where the operation took place. He said that as per preliminary count, there were no civilian casualties.
The statement said one of the dead was Anas, “an IS official in Syria province” who was involved in plotting attacks in eastern Syria.
“IS continues to be a threat to the security and stability of the region,” command spokesman Joe Buccino said in the statement. “The death of these IS officers will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to plot and carry out destabilizing attacks in the Middle East.”
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the operation took place in the village of al-Zeer in Deir al-Zour province and involved Kurdish forces. He said the guerrillas refused to surrender before firing from a helicopter at the house where they were staying.
There are about 900 US troops in Syria to support the Syrian Democratic Forces in their fight against ISIL. They often attack IS positions in Kurdish-controlled areas of north-eastern Syria.
On 30 November, IS announced that its leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi had been killed in battle. The United States said al-Qureshi was killed in an operation by rebel units in the southern city of Daraa.
