00:00And now to Syria, where U.S. forces carried out a pre-dawn raid targeting a member of the Islamic State, or ISIS.
00:07The mission took place in Idlib province and marks the latest American operation against remnants of the extremist network.
00:13Now, according to U.S. officials and Syrian security forces, the raid began around 2 a.m. local time in the town of Atme in northwestern Syria.
00:22U.S. helicopters and drones provided air cover while ground troops executed the actual assault.
00:27It started last night after 2 a.m. We were asleep on the balcony. We went inside. We couldn't sleep.
00:37There was a shooting and loud noises. We didn't know what was happening, and it was dark. I couldn't see anything from the balcony.
00:49Syrian forces cordoned off the neighborhood, but American soldiers let the raid.
00:55Now, according to reports, the target tried to escape but was killed.
00:58The man was reportedly an Iraqi national married to a French woman.
01:02Now, what happened to his wife remains unclear.
01:05Syrian state media later identified him as someone named Ali, one of the most dangerous men wanted for mobilizing ISIS sleeper cells in Syria.
01:14The Pentagon has not yet issued a formal statement, but a U.S. official reportedly confirmed the raid was aimed at a suspected high-value ISIS member.
01:23One resident also said that U.S. armed forces remained on rooftops of nearby homes for nearly two hours.
01:30He also heard someone speaking Arabic with what he described as an Iraqi accent.
01:35They went up to our neighbor's roof here and our neighbor's roof there.
01:41Of course, those who came to me here, they all speak English.
01:45They didn't speak anything else, just English.
01:47But on the roof of Assad's house there, the man was speaking, and his accent was apparently Iraqi.
01:52Now, ISIS, also known as ISIL, once controlled territory half the size of the United Kingdom, stretching across Iraq and Syria with Raqqa as its capital.
02:07The group became infamous for mass killings, the enslavement of Yazidi women, and the beheading of foreign hostages.
02:13Though it lost its territory and governance structure by 2019, its fighters, however, remain active in the region and abroad.
02:21It's the second known U.S. raid in northern Syria since longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December.
02:28And the new government, led by President Ahmed al-Shara, has pledged to prevent any resurgence of ISIS and is cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition.
02:37Wednesday's raid is not an isolated incident, however.
02:40In fact, in July, the Pentagon said its forces killed a senior ISIS leader along with two of his adult sons during a raid in the Aleppo province.
02:50It lived province where this latest raid occurred, has long been a hiding spot for senior ISIS leaders.
02:56In fact, U.S. special forces killed two members there, one in 2022 and another in 2019.
03:04ISIS continues to carry out deadly attacks.
03:06In fact, this year in May, the group ambushed Syrian government forces.
03:10And in June, a gunman stormed a church in Tabascus, killing at least 25 people before detonating a suicide bomb.
03:17The Interior Ministry blamed ISIS for the massacre.
03:21Analysts say that while ISIS no longer holds territory, it remains a threat.
03:26Its networks continue to launch sporadic but deadly operations across Syria, Iraq, Africa, and Afghanistan.
03:33So while ISIS has lost its so-called caliphate years ago, latest U.S. raid in Idlib is a reminder that the group's leaders are still being hunted
03:44and its fighters remain a danger in Syria and beyond.
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