US-backed Syrian-Kurdish fighters capture senior ISIS militant

Mahmdouh Ibrahim Al Haji was taken into custody in Raqqa for 'enabling terrorist cells'

A joint force raided the ISIS member's hideout west of Raqqa 'and successfully apprehended him'. EPA

Syrian-Kurdish fighters and American forces captured a senior ISIS member, a militant described as one of the group's “key facilitators”, authorities said on Friday.

Mahmdouh Ibrahim Al Haji, also known as Abu Youssef, was taken into custody on Thursday in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, according to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, days after the US military said it had captured another ISIS operator in northern Syria.

According to a statement from the Syrian-Kurdish fighters, Al Haji “was actively involved in enabling … terrorist cells in the region”. It added that the joint force had raided his hideout west of Raqqa “and successfully apprehended him”.

The US Central Command said on Saturday that Al Haji was captured during “a successful helicopter raid in northern Syria on September 28, 2023".

No civilians were injured or killed during this operation, it said in a statement.

The Centcom “remains committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS,” said Lt Col Troy Garlock, Centcom representative.

Despite their defeat in Syria in March 2019, ISIS cells still carry out attacks that have killed scores of people over the past year.

The US has about 900 troops in Syria focused on countering the remnants of ISIS, which had held large parts of the country until 2019.

ISIS declared a self-styled caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq that it seized in 2014. It was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017, following a three-year battle that left tens of thousands of people dead and cities in ruins.

The UN said last month that ISIS still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former stronghold in Syria and Iraq, and that its fighters pose the most serious threat in Afghanistan today.