ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States army announced on Friday that it carried out a raid in Aleppo province in northern Syria, killing a senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader and two of his sons.
The raid took place in al-Bab town. The suspected ISIS leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two ISIS-affiliated sons were killed, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
“These ISIS individuals posed a threat to US and Coalition Forces, as well as the new Syrian Government. Three women and three children were also on the target and were unharmed,” it added.
General Michael "Erik" Kurilla said the US would “continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists wherever they are. ISIS terrorists are not safe where they sleep, where they operate, and where they hide.”
Since its defeat in 2019, ISIS has been trying to regain strength, especially after a coalition of opposition groups led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava), who defeated ISIS in Syria with the help of the US-led global coalition, have repeatedly warned of the growing threat posed by ISIS. In mid-January, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said there is a “need to intensify efforts to continue the fight against ISIS if we don’t want to see it make a comeback.”
