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Monitor says U.S. raid in Syria killed 32 IS members, including four leaders

Publisher Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Publication Date 17 May 2015
Cite as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Monitor says U.S. raid in Syria killed 32 IS members, including four leaders, 17 May 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5565bab915.html [accessed 1 June 2023]
DisclaimerThis is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

May 17, 2015

A monitoring group says a U.S. special forces raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, including four leaders.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on May 17 that the U.S. operation "killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defense minister, and an IS communications official."

U.S. officials have said "about a dozen" people were killed in the operation on the night of May 15, which was conducted by Iraq-based U.S. commandos in order to capture Abu Sayyaf.

The operation targeted an IS compound in the eastern Deir Ezzor province.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called the operation a "significant blow" to IS.

Also on May 17, Syrian state television said government troops have killed five foreign IS leaders in the Deir Ezzor province – a Saudi, a Turk, a Chechen, a Jordanian, and an Iraqi.

There was no independent confirmation of the claim.

Based on reporting by AFP and dpa

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

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