U.S. Special Operations forces carried out a “successful” counter-terrorism mission in northwest Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said in a statement obtained by Fox News.
John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said there were no U.S. casualties and more information will be provided later.
People check at a destroyed house after an operation by the U.S. military in the Syrian village of Atmeh. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Human rights groups and witnesses described a large operation by U.S. commandos that seemed to have the intensity and planning of a raid on a high-value target. Social media users posted a purported video of the attack in the nighttime hours. The helicopter was only visible when it opened fire.
Residents in Atmeh, a village in rebel-held Idlib Province, told the Associated Press that there was a large ground assault, with U.S. forces using loudspeakers asking women and children to leave the area. They described the raid as the biggest operation since the October 2019 killing of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A damaged room and windows are seen inside a house after an operation by the U.S. military in the Syrian village of Atmeh. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
The area, which is near the Turkish border, is home to several top al Qaeda operatives and other militant groups still fighting President Bashar al-Assad. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.
There was at least one major explosion. A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the AP that one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground.
A damaged door is pictured on February 3, 2022 following an overnight raid by US special operations forces against suspected jihadists in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib. (Photo by ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP via Getty Images)
The New York Times reported that the “White House was abuzz on Wednesday night about something secretive afoot, and Pentagon officials were unusually tight-lipped about the mission’s details.”
Residents and activists told the AP that there were multiple deaths near the home that was raided in Atmeh, which included civilians. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people were killed, including two children.
A U.S. official told the Times that an explosion inside the targeted home was not caused by the commandos and likely the target of the raid blowing himself up. Reuters said it viewed a video taken by a resident that showed the bodies of two “apparently lifeless children and a man in the rubble of a building at the location.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
