CNN
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The United States killed two Islamic State officials in a helicopter raid early Sunday morning in eastern Syria, the US Central Command said in a statement.
The raid was a unilateral US operation with “extensive planning”, CENTCOM said, and the initial assessment was that no civilians were killed or injured.
One of the officials killed was “Anas”, a regional ISIS leader who was involved in planning operations in eastern Syria.
“The deaths of these ISIS officials will disrupt the ability of the terrorist organization to continue plotting and carrying out destabilizing attacks in the Middle East,” Central Command spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said.
The United States has insisted it is engaged in the campaign to defeat ISIS ‘in partnership with local forces’, even as recent Turkish operations in northern Syria targeting Kurdish forces have put American personnel in danger and threatened to destabilize the situation in Syria.
Two weeks ago, the United States welcomed news of the death of Islamic State leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. He was not killed in a US operation, unlike the previous leader, Hajji Abdullah, who was killed in a US raid in February.
Cnn
