US forces kill senior Islamic State official in pre-dawn Syria raid: official
Local reports said several US helicopters were involved in an operation in an area controlled by the opposition Suqour al-Sham militia.
US special operations forces killed a senior leader of the Islamic State's Syria franchise during a helicopter-borne raid in the country's northwest before dawn on Monday, a US official told Al-Monitor.
Two other armed individuals were also killed during the operation, the official said, adding that no US troops or civilians were reported to have been hurt.
"US Central Command forces conducted a unilateral helicopter raid in northern Syria in the early morning of April 17th targeting a Senior ISIS-Syria leader and operational planner responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe. The raid resulted in the probable death of the targeted individual," US Central Command said in an initial statement early on Monday.
Later on Monday, CENTCOM released a second statement saying US forces had confirmed the identity of the deceased IS official as Abdul-Hadi Mahmoud al-Haji Ali. CENTCOM said Ali was "the primary target of the raid" and that the two other individuals killed during the operation were "ISIS operatives."
