The U.S. military announced Tuesday the arrest of six suspected Islamic State members in three helicopter-supported raids conducted over the past two days in eastern Syria, days after confirming the resumption of joint patrols with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has indicated in a statement posted on its website that its forces «have conducted three helicopter raids in eastern Syria over the past 48 hours that resulted in the detention of six operatives, including al-Zubaidi, a senior Islamic State operative involved in planning and facilitating Islamic State attacks in Syria.»
Thus, he has stated that «there was extensive planning to ensure the successful execution of these operations» and added that «initial estimates indicate that no civilians have been killed or injured.»
CENTCOM Commander Michael Kurilla stressed that «these joint operations reaffirm CENTCOM’s strong commitment to the region and to a lasting defeat of the Islamic State,» while indicating that «the capture of these Islamic State operatives will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to plan and perpetrate destabilizing attacks.»
The U.S. Army announced last week the arrest of five other suspected members of the group who were planning attacks against detention centers and the Al Hol (northeast) displaced persons camp. The camp is home to thousands of family members of Islamic State members, mostly women and children, although there are also detainees who have no connection to the jihadist group.
The SDF denounced on November 25 the death of eight of its members in a Turkish bombing in its surroundings and announced the suspension of joint operations with the United States in the face of the attacks in the framework of operation ‘Sword Claw’, a bombing campaign against Kurdish groups after the bombing perpetrated on November 13 in the Turkish city of Istanbul, which left six dead and more than 80 wounded.
The Turkish government has blamed the Istanbul bombing on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and said that the main suspect had received orders from the Kurdish-Syrian militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the main element of the SDF – although both the PKK and the SDF have disassociated themselves from the attack.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
