CENTCOM announces capturing ISIS official in northern Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Monday announced the capture of an Islamic State (ISIS) official during a raid in northern Syria, noting that no civilians were harmed in the operation. 

The target, named Abu Halil al-Fad’ani, was identified by CENTCOM as an ISIS operational and facilitation official in Syria with relationships extending across the militant group’s network in the region. He was arrested in a helicopter raid on Saturday.

“The capture of ISIS officials like al-Fad’ani increases our ability to locate, target, and remove terrorist from the battlefield,” the statement cited CENTCOM Spokesperson Troy Garlock as saying, stressing the coalition’s commitment to the ensuring defeat of the militant group. 

ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014 but was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019. While the group lacks any territorial presence on the ground, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions in both countries.

CENTCOM said in its monthly report on the anti-ISIS mission that 36 operations were carried out in partnership with their allies on the ground in Iraq and Syria in August, killing at least seven ISIS operatives and detaining 25 others.