US Raid in Syria Reportedly Targets IS Official

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Facts

  • On Wednesday, the US military conducted a helicopter raid near Qamishli - a Syrian government-controlled city on the Turkish border in northeast Syria - targeting senior Islamic State group (IS) official Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri.
  • On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the targeted individual was killed and one of his associates was wounded during the operation. In a separate airstrike carried out on Thursday in northern Syria, the US reportedly killed two other top IS leaders.
  • While US Central Command said two people were detained, local sources claim that several other people were captured during the raid in the village of Muluk Saray. Originally, residents had identified the slain man as Rakan Abu Hayel.
  • US troops reportedly landed in the village after midnight and told residents via loudspeaker to stay indoors and keep their lights off. There was allegedly no exchange of gunfire and, reportedly, no civilians or US forces were injured in the operation.
  • This comes days after the end of the largest combat involving American forces against IS since its fall. In this operation, US troops backed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in a week-long fight to retake control of a prison in the city of Hasaka.
  • Though the US has been targeting IS officials in Syria this year – killing IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi in February and allegedly killing "one of the top five leaders" in July – this was reportedly the first airborne raid in the government-held territory since the beginning of Syria's civil war in 2011.

Sources: Al Jazeera, CNN, Daily Mail, New York Times, and France24.

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Almayadeen. This operation wasn't against IS, but rather against an auxiliary force of the Syrian army. After all these years that Syria has been fighting IS, it would certainly be odd for an IS official to be hiding in Syrian government-controlled territory. The US is spreading disinformation to justify its occupation of Syria, harass its legitimate government, and steal the country's oil wealth.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. Despite the inaccurate criticism from the Syrian government, this helicopter raid is simply a continuation of the US-led coalition policy of fighting IS wherever it may hide. The operation went smoothly, caused no collateral damage, and a dangerous IS leader was neutralized. Military operations like these make the entire international community safer.