U.S. troops kill Islamic State leader during firefight in Syria

In a rare ground mission, U.S. commandos killed a midlevel Islamic State commander in east Syria on Sunday, though they had hoped to capture him alive in the raid, commanders say.


U.S. soldiers from the Joint Special Operations Command carried out a raid in Deir al-Zour attempted to capture an Islamic State leader U.S. forces wanted to interrogate, but a firefight broke out and the person was killed while sitting in a car.

A report that 25 terror/fighters had been killed in the two-hour raid from the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" was disputed by Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesperson for the Defense Department.

The mission was conducted by a small number of troops based in Iraq used specifically to root down and capture leaders of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.
 [upi.com]
10/1/17