Senior ISIS Leader Killed, 4 US Soldiers Wounded in Raid in Syria

Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Four U.S. soldiers were wounded following a helicopter raid in Syria that killed a senior leader of the ISIS terrorist group, the White House announced Friday.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters the four soldiers and one of the working dogs are “suffering some injuries” after an explosion during the raid late on Thursday.

“The troops and the working dog are in stable condition. They’re being treated at a U.S. medical facility in Iraq,” he said.

ISIS senior leader Hamza al-Homsi, who was overseeing an ISIS network in eastern Syria, was killed in an “explosion on target” in the raid conducted by the U.S. military and the Syrian Democratic Forces, U.S. Central Command announced.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is an alliance led by Kurdish fighters that has waged a years-long campaign against ISIS in Syria’s north.

The U.S. military has killed two ISIS leaders in Syria in recent years.

In October 2022, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi killed himself during a U.S. raid in northwest Syria. He had taken over as head of ISIS on Oct. 31, 2019, just days after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hunted down by U.S. soldiers during a raid.

Following al-Qurayshi’s death, ISIS named a new top leader on Nov. 30, 2022—Abu al-Husain al-Husaini al-Quraishi.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.