- Elite forces airdropped into Deir Ezzor, Syria, and mounted ground raid
- Killed 12 jihadis in hand-to-hand combat then turned to Abu Sayyaf
- Defense sources say militants tried to use women and children as shields
- Terrorist 'oil minister' was killed and his laptop and cell phones seized
- His wife Umm Sayyaf, a slaving chief, was caught and is being held in Iraq
- No Americans were killed or wounded in the overnight operation
- Shortly after coalition air strike hit nearby oil fields and killed 40 more jihadis
Published:
12:46 GMT, 16 May 2015
|
Updated:
21:47 GMT, 16 May 2015
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U.S.
Special Forces have killed a top ISIS commander in charge of their
lucrative oil business, and captured his slaver wife in a dramatic
overnight raid.
Elite
forces stormed a residential building in the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor,
killing 12 jihadists in hand-to-hand combat before claiming the scalp
of Abu Sayyaf, the twisted regime's 'oil minister'.
Terrified
militants tried to use women and children as human shields as the
American troops advanced, but Pentagon officials said the raid was
pulled off with no harm to civilians.
Daring raid: US special operations
forces have killed top ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, in a raid in Syria
and captured his wife who ran a human trafficking network which traded
Yazidis (file photo)
Air raid: Defense sources say that
troops were dropped into combat during the mission, which used Osprey
tilt-rotor aircraft such as the one above
Chopper attack: Black Hawk helicopters are also thought to have been used in the overnight raid
Though the original aim was to take Sayyaf alive, the soldiers killed him when he tried to fight back.
They
recovered laptops and cell phones which could provide an insight into
ISIS's oil-smuggling operations, which bring in vast wealth for the
terrorist organization.
His
wife Umm Sayyaf, was captured in the raid and is now in military
detention. It is believed that she was involved in ISIS's slave-trading
operation, and sold members of the oppressed Yazidi minority into
slavery.
She
was taken back to a detention facility in Iraq. It is unknown what will
be done with her, but she will not be sent to the American facility in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Pentagon spokesman told the Guardian.
'No one’s going to Gitmo,' Colonel Steve Warren said.
Defense
officials, speaking anonymously, said that soldiers were dropped into
the combat zone from Black Hawk helicopters and Osprey tilt-rotor
aircraft.
No
American forces were killed or even injured in the night-time attack,
though at least one Black Hawk chopper was riddle with bullet holes as
ISIS forces tried to retaliate.
The
raid was followed up with a coalition airstrike on oil fields near Deir
Ezzor, which Syrian state media says took out a further 40 extremists.
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter hailed the raid as a triumph.
He
said: 'The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and
it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe
haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends
and allies'.
ISIL
is the Obama administration's preferred term for ISIS. According to the
White House, Sayyaf was involved with IS military operations and had 'a
senior role in overseeing ISIL's illicit oil and gas operations.'
U.S. special
forces have killed a top ISIS commander in a secret raid in Syria and
captured his wife who is responsible for trafficking Yazidis (file
photo)
A
spokesman said that the raid was carried out with the blessing of
Iraq's government, while the Syrian regime of president Bashar Assad was
not consulted.
The
ground raiding party also managed to release a female Yazidi slave in
the confrontation. Officials say she will be reunited with her family.
She
is thought to have been part of the slaving operation run by Sayyaf's
wife, who is now the first U.S.-held detainee in the war against ISIS .
Reports
state that she was a leading figure in ISIS's human trafficking
operation, which targets the Yazidi minority who live in norther Iraq.
The
group, whose idiosyncratic beliefs are based on Christianity, have been
killed, raped and enslaved en masse by ISIS militants, who consider
them devil worshippers.
His
wife, Umm Sayyaf, controlled human trafficking for the terrorist
organisation which included selling Yazidis, the Christian group from
the North of Iraq.
She
is the first US-held detainee of the war against ISIS. The question of
whether she could be sen to Guantanamo bay was raised, but a Pentagon
spokesman told the Guardian that would not happen.
A
young Yazidi woman who had been kept as a 'slave' by the pair was freed
in the dramatic raid and she will be reunited with her family.
ISIS extremists have killed, raped and enslaved thousands of Yazidis as they consider the group to be devil worshippers.
Coalition warplanes carried out airstrikes in the al- Omar oilfield in Deir Ezzor, which Sayyaf is believed to have controlled
Bernadette
Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman, said President Obama
had authorized the raid 'upon the unanimous recommendation of his
national security team'.
'We
are working to determine an ultimate disposition for the detainee that
best supports the national security of the United States and of our
allies and partners, consistent with domestic and international law,'
Mrs Meehan said.
'We
will follow our usual practice with respect to giving the International
Committee of the Red Cross notification and access to the detainee.'
Syrian media
reported at least 40 ISIS fighters were killed in the attack at al-Omar
oil field, pictured a still from a video showing armed men outside is
believed to be the same oil field in July last year (file photo)
There
is reason to believe that Abu Sayyaf may have been in contact with ISIS
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sources familiar with the operation told CNN.
Sayyaf also was known by the names Abu Muhammad al Iraqi and Abd al Ghani, they said.
Meanwhile,
ISIS militants are said to be advancing toward the historic city of
Palmyra in central Syria, seizing an oil field and taking control of the
water company on the outskirts.
The
advances in the Palmyra countryside were coupled with an announcement
that its fighters have seized full control of Saker Island in the
Euphrates River north of Deir Ezzor.
Government forces and Islamic State fighters began battling on the eastern edge of Palmyra on Thursday.
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