United States Arrests ISIS Attack Facilitator In East Syria

ISIS illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/VOA)

JAKARTA - United States forces have captured ISIS "attack facilitator" Hudayfah Al Yamani in northeastern Syria, the Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Wednesday.

The helicopter attack on April 8 resulted in the capture of Al Yamani along with two of his associates, without causing any civilian casualties, said CENTCOM, citing The National News, April 13.

The military command added that the US operation "would undermine the ability of ISIS as an organization to plan and carry out operations".

Al Yaman is currently in the custody of US forces and will soon be transferred to the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces for processing, CENTCOM spokesman Col Joe Buccino told The National News.

It is known that American troops have been in Syria since 2015 on a mission focused on fighting Iran-backed militias and preventing the rise of ISIS, in partnership with the Kurdish-led SDF.

Despite being defeated in Syria in 2019, the terrorist group has continued to wage a low-level insurgency in northern Iraq and Syria, and frequently attacks members of the SDF.

Last week, US strikes killed senior ISIS leader Khalid Aydd Ahmad Al Jabouri in northwestern Syria.

"ISIS remains a threat to the region and beyond – the group retains the capability to conduct operations in Iraq and Syria with a view to striking beyond the Middle East, and its nefarious ideology remains a threat," Colonel Buccino said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Operations like this reaffirm our commitment to defeating ISIS," he said.

But it says there are those in Washington who have grown skeptical of the presence of 900 troops in Syria, after a drone strike killed an American contractor at a US base in Hasakah province last month.

Republican US Representative Matt Gaetz introduced a war powers resolution this year that would have withdrawn troops from the country. However, the bill failed to pass the House of Representatives.

Centcom head General Michael Kurilla told the House Armed Services Committee last month ISIS would return to power in "one to two years" if the US withdrew from its mission in Syria.