Current:Home > MySyrian Kurdish fighters backed by US troops say they’ve captured a senior Islamic State militant-LoTradeCoin
Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by US troops say they’ve captured a senior Islamic State militant
View Date:2024-12-23 22:00:18
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Kurdish fighters and American forces have captured a senior member of the Islamic State group, a militant described as one of its “key facilitators,” the force said 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 U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, just days after the U.S. military said it had captured another IS 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 raided his hideout west of Raqqa, “and successfully apprehended him.”
Despite their defeat in Syria in March 2019, IS sleeper cells are still able to carry out deadly attacks that have killed scores of people over the past year.
The U.S. has approximately 900 troops in Syria focused on countering the remnants of IS, which had held a wide swath of the country until 2019.
IS declared a self-styled caliphate across the territory in 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.
U.N. experts said last month that IS 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.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- The Office's Kate Flannery Defends John Krasinski's Sexiest Man Alive Win
- Climate Change Forces a Rethinking of Mammoth Everglades Restoration Plan
- Climate Activists Protest the Museum of Modern Art’s Fossil Fuel Donors Outside Its Biggest Fundraising Gala
- Are Legally Acceptable Levels of Pollution Harming Children’s Brain Development?
- Pete Alonso's best free agent fits: Will Mets bring back Polar Bear?
- UN Adds New Disclosure Requirements For Upcoming COP28, Acknowledging the Toll of Corporate Lobbying
- At Lake Powell, Record Low Water Levels Reveal an ‘Amazing Silver Lining’
- North West Meets Chilli Months After Recreating TLC's No Scrubs Video Styles With Friends
- San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had mild stroke this month, team says
- Paris Hilton Celebrates 6 Months With Angel Baby Phoenix in Sweet Message
Ranking
- Indiana in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings? You've got to be kidding
- See the Stylish Way Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Celebrated Their First Wedding Anniversary
- Residents Oppose a Planned Lithium Battery Storage System Next to Their Homes in Maryland’s Prince George’s County
- Reliving Every Detail of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Double Wedding
- In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes
- Water, Water Everywhere, Yet Local U.S. Planners Are Lowballing Their Estimates
- How Daniel Ellsberg Opened the Door to One of the Most Consequential Climate Stories of Our Time
- Carbon Credit Market Seizes On a New Opportunity: Plugging Oil and Gas Wells
Recommendation
-
Prosecutors say some erroneous evidence was given jurors at ex-Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
-
Victoria Beckham Trolls David Beckham for Slipping at Lionel Messi's Miami Presentation
-
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Live in Communities With Harmful Air Quality, Study Shows
-
Fossil Fuel Companies and Cement Manufacturers Could Be to Blame for a More Than a Third of West’s Wildfires
-
Sister Wives’ Madison Brush Details Why She Went “No Contact” With Dad Kody Brown
-
Red States Stand to Benefit From a ‘Layer Cake’ of Tax Breaks From Inflation Reduction Act
-
Determined to Forge Ahead With Canal Expansion, Army Corps Unveils Testing Plan for Contaminants in Matagorda Bay in Texas
-
Climate-Smart Cowboys Hope Regenerative Cattle Ranching Can Heal the Land and Sequester Carbon