US forces detain 6 Daesh group militants in Syria

A US military vehicle on a patrol in the countryside near the town of Qamishli, Syria, on Dec. 4, 2022. US and Kurdish-led forces had arrested a Daesh group militant in eastern Syria. (AP/File)
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Updated 20 December 2022
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US forces detain 6 Daesh group militants in Syria

  • The raids were conducted over the preceding 48 hours, and identified one of the detained militants as “Al-Zubaydi”
  • Two of the three raids took place in the Deir el-Zour and Hassakeh regions

BEIRUT: American forces conducted three raids in eastern Syria and arrested six Daesh group militants, US Central Command said Tuesday.
In their statement, US Central Command said the raids were conducted over the preceding 48 hours, and identified one of the detained militants as “Al-Zubaydi,” a “Syria Province Senior Official” of the group who they say was involved in planning and facilitating attacks in Syria.
Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two of the three raids took place in the Deir Ezzor and Hassakeh regions, adding that Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were also involved. They identified four of the detained as Turkmen weapons dealers affiliated with the militant group.
Two SDF fighters were wounded in one raid.
“The capture of these Daesh operatives will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks,” US Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said in the statement.
There are some 900 US troops in Syria supporting Kurdish-led forces in the fight against the militant group. They have frequently targeted Daesh militants mostly in parts of northeastern Syria under Kurdish control.
The SDF on Monday said they had detained a Daesh militant who managed cells in eastern Syria.
Syria has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2011 that has drawn in regional and global powers. Syrian President Bashar Assad has mostly regained control of the country, but parts of its north remain under the control of rebels, as well as Turkish and Syrian Kurdish forces.


Drone strike kills 10, including 7 children, in Sudan’s El-Obeid: medical source

Updated 06 January 2026
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Drone strike kills 10, including 7 children, in Sudan’s El-Obeid: medical source

  • An eyewitness said the strike hit a house in the center of the army-controlled capital of North Kordofan

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A drone strike on the Sudanese city of El-Obeid killed 10 people including seven children on Monday, a medical source told AFP.
An eyewitness said the strike hit a house in the center of the army-controlled capital of North Kordofan, which the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have sought to encircle for months.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a war between the army and the RSF, with some of the worst violence currently unfolding in Sudan’s strategic southern Kordofan region.
El-Obeid, the region’s main city, lies on a key crossroads connecting the capital Khartoum with the vast western Darfur region — where the army lost its last major position in October.
Following its victory in Darfur, the RSF has pushed through Kordofan, seeking to recapture Sudan’s central corridor and tightening its siege with its local allies around several army-held cities.
Hundreds of thousands face mass starvation across the region.
Last year, the army broke a paramilitary siege on El-Obeid, which the RSF has sought to encircle since.
Drone strikes on Sunday caused a power outage in the city but left no reports of casualties.
Last week, a coalition of armed groups allied with the army said they had retaken several towns south of El-Obeid, which according to a military source could “open up the road between El-Obeid and Dilling” — one of South Kordofan’s besieged cities.
Since it began, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 11 million people to flee internally and across borders.
It has also created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, and been described as a “war of atrocities” by the United Nations.