US special forces kill senior ISIL leader in Syria: White House

The announcement came before ISIL fighters pushed into the Syrian town of Palmyra, home to a famed Unesco world heritage site.

US defense secretary Ash Carter speaks at a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington on May 1. Reuters

BEIRUT // US commandos mounted a rare raid into eastern Syria overnight, killing a senior ISIL commander in a firefight, capturing his wife and rescuing a Yazidi woman held as a slave, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

Hours after the announcement, ISIL fighters pushed into the Syrian town of Palmyra, home to famed 2,000-year-old ruins, and were clashing with government troops in residential areas.

The militants entered from the north but had not yet reached the Unesco would heritage site, which is south-west of the main town.

ISIL’s push on Palmyra in the central province of Homs, which began on Thursday, has raised alarm in Syria and abroad. The group is notorious for destroying archaeological sites in neighbouring Iraq.

The American raid in Syria was announced by US defense secretary Ash Carter, who identified the militant as Abu Sayyaf. Mr Carter said no US forces were killed or injured in the operation.

A US-led coalition has been striking ISIL militants in Syria since last year, but this is only the second time troops have carried out a ground raid. A previous operation last summer was aimed at rescuing Americans held hostage by the group, but failed to recover any.

Syrian state TV earlier reported that Syrian government forces killed at least 40 ISIL fighters, including a senior commander in charge of oilfields, in an attack on Saturday on the country’s largest oilfield — held by ISIL.

It was not immediately clear why both Syria and the US would claim a similar operation in the Omar oilfield. The US has said it is not co-operating with president Bashar Al Assad’s government in the battle against ISIL. But it says it usually gives Damascus a heads-up on operations within its borders.

The Syrian report, which appeared as an urgent news bar on state TV, was not repeated by the state news agency.

The Britain-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights confirmed an attack on the Omar oilfield, saying at least 19 ISIL members, including 12 foreigners, were killed. The group did not say who carried out the attack, but said it was informed that there was an airdrop that followed the air strikes. The Observatory relies on a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

The US did not provide the full name of the militant identified as Abu Sayyaf. There was no information immediately available on militant websites.

A statement from the US National Security Council said Abu Sayyaf was a “senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations — a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organisation to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians.”

“He was also involved with the group’s military operations,” it said.

A US defence official said the raid was conducted overnight on Friday Washington time by a team of Army Delta commandos who flew from Iraq into eastern Syria aboard V-22 Osprey aircraft and Blackhawk helicopters.

Upon arrival at the target, which was a multi-story building, the Americans met stiff resistance. A “fairly intense firefight” ensued, including hand-to-hand combat, said the official.

The US estimates that about a dozen ISIL fighters were killed but no civilians were wounded, even though women and children were present. The Americans returned to their base unharmed by about midnight Washington time.

The ISIL leader who was killed was a Tunisian national designated by ISIL as the organisation’s “emir of oil and gas,” according to the US official.

The National Security Council statement said president Barack Obama authorised the operation upon the “unanimous recommendation” of his national security team.

Asked about the timing of the two announcements, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the US government did not coordinate with the Syrian government or advise it in advance of the operation.

“We have warned the Assad regime not to interfere with our continuing efforts against ISIL inside of Syria,” she said, using another acronym for the ISIL group. “As we have said before, the Assad regime is not and cannot be a partner in the fight against ISIL. In fact, the brutal actions of the regime have aided and abetted the rise of ISIL and other extremists in Syria.”

The statement said the commandos rescued a young Yazidi woman “who appears to have been held as a slave” by the slain militant and his wife. ISIL militants captured hundreds of members of the Yazidi religious minority in northern Iraq during their rampage across the country last summer.

The extremist group controls much of northern and eastern Syria as well as northern and western Iraq. It has control of most of the oilfields in Syria, which are a key source of its funding.

Also on Saturday, the group announced that its fighters had seized full control of Saker Island in the Euphrates River north of Deir Ezzour, the northeastern province divided between areas held by the group and the government.

Meanwhile, Turkish jets shot down a Syrian helicopter that had breached Turkey’s airspace, according to the country’s defence minister. Syrian state television, quoting a military source, said it was a “small” unmanned drone.

* Associated Press and Reuters