BEIRUT/WASHINGTON: US forces have captured three Daesh group members during a helicopter and ground raid in eastern Syria, the US military’s Central Command said Sunday.
The raid happened on Saturday, according to Col. Joe Buccino, a Central Command spokesperson, adding that one civilian received “minor injuries” during the attack and was treated at a nearby medical facility before being released back to his family.
A Central Command statement described the militants as facilitators, a logistician, and an “associate” of the jihadist group.
Few other details of the raid were disclosed. Central Command alluded to the presence of “partner forces” — language which in the past has been used to refer to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Syrian Kurdish armed group that helped the US and its allies defeat the Daesh group, which sought to establish as Islamic caliphate.
After the jihadists lost their last scraps of territory following a military onslaught backed by the coalition in March 2019, Daesh remnants in Syria mostly retreated into desert hideouts in the country’s east.
They have since used such hideouts to ambush Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops while continuing to mount attacks in Iraq.
On Friday, the Central Command said a drone attack hit a US-led coalition base in southern Syria, with a war monitor saying it was launched by Iran-backed groups.
