President Donald Trump heralded the capture of five senior members of the ISIS terrorist group as part of a sting operation by American, Iraqi, and Turkish forces.
The three-month operation began when an Iraqi intelligence unit tracked down Ismail Alwaan al-Ithawi, also known as Abu Zeid al-Iraqi, to the Turkish city of Sakarya.
Ithawi was a top aide to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to the Iraqis. Ithawi was issued religious rulings for ISIS, oversaw the terrorist group’s indoctrination curriculum, and was part of a group that appointed leaders to head branches of ISIS.
The Iraqis coordinated with the Turks to capture Ithawi and extradite him to Iraq. Once there, he was interrogated and surrendered intelligence over the course of several weeks.
The information Ithawi surrendered was used by American officials to coordinate a coalition strike in mid-April that killed 39 ISIS terrorists.
The American and Iraqi intelligence operatives then coerced Ithawi to lure several fellow terrorists hiding in Syria to cross the border to Iraq where a trap had been set for them.
The Iraqis arrested the group shortly after they crossed the border. The group included Saddam al-Jammel, a regional ISIS leader in charge of the territory around Deir al-Zour. Abu Abdel al-Haq, the head of internal security at ISIS, was also among those captured.
Iraq had described the capture of the ISIS commanders as “some of the most wanted” leaders of the group.
Trump announced the captures hours after he met three Americans citizens freed from prison in North Korea.
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