US conducts helicopter raid in Syria capturing ISIS official

By Gregory Clary and Michael Callahan, CNN

The US military and Syrian Democratic Forces conducted a helicopter raid in eastern Syria early Saturday, capturing an ISIS official, according to a statement from US Central Command.

Batar, “an ISIS Syria Province Official involved in planning attacks on SDF-guarded detention centers and manufacturing improvised explosive devices,” was captured in the raid, CENTCOM said in the statement.

The US did not provide any additional information or evidence regarding its claims about Batar.

No civilians, SDF or US forces were killed or injured in the raid, according to CENTCOM.

The development comes on the heels of an earlier helicopter raid in Syria on Thursday night that the US military said killed Hamza al-Homsi, a senior ISIS leader, as well as wounded four US troops and a working dog.

Officials told CNN that US forces were “close to” al-Homsi when an explosion occurred, killing al-Homsi and wounding the US service members. It is unclear at this point if the explosion was the result of a suicide vest, a booby trap or something else, two officials said.

Separately, US Central Command said in a statement Saturday evening that two rockets had landed near a coalition base in northeast Syria.

No US or coalition troops were injured and no damage to equipment or infrastructure occurred during the rocket attack that targeted Green Village, a coalition base in northeast Syria.

US forces are investigating the incident.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.