Central Command reports that US forces conducted a raid in Syria that led to the death of a senior ISIS leader. 

A press release from CENTCOM says, “Early this morning in al-Bab, Aleppo Governate, Syria, CENTCOM Forces conducted a raid resulting in the death of senior ISIS Leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani.”

For a decade, hundreds of US troops have occupied Syria. In June, the Donald Trump administration announced it would reduce the number of US troops from 2,000 to 1,500.

President Barack Obama deployed soldiers to Syria without Congressional authorization. The administration claimed the troops were needed to repel the threat posed by ISIS. 

However, the rise of the Islamic State was a result of US policy in Syria. Following the War in Libya, Washington funneled jihadist fighters and weapons to Syria in support of the opposition to Bashar al-Assad. As the US intelligence community predicted, the opposition was dominated by extremists who formed an Islamic Caliphate. 

Even after the Islamic State lost its territory, it continued as an insurgent group that would attack forces loyal to the Assad government. Since Assad’s ouster, ISIS has refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the new jihadist government in Damascus, but has mostly fought against the semi-autonomous Kurdish state in eastern Syria.   

After Assad was forced from Syria late last year, fighting has intensified throughout most of the country. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and occupies part of southern Syria. The new government, ruled by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has carried out ethnic massacres against Alawites and Druze.