WASHINGTON — Two U.S. service members were injured in Iraq in a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid overnight that killed “multiple ISIS operatives,” according to a Defense Department spokesperson.
“My understanding is that both of them are in stable condition being treated for their injuries,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said at a briefing.
Ryder did not say how they were injured. A defense official said Wednesday that both service members had been transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and were still in stable condition.
“Overnight, CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command) and Iraqi security forces conducted a partner raid in Iraq targeting several senior ISIS leaders,” said Ryder. “The raid resulted in the death of multiple ISIS operatives.”
A release from the U.S. Central Command on Wednesday morning said at least seven operatives were killed in the operation, which included both “strikes and follow-on raids” on multiple ISIS locations, “targeting several senior ISIS leaders.” The release did not name the leaders who were targeted.
According to a statement by Iraqi Joint Operations Command, nine ISIS members were killed in the raid, including “the so-called criminal governor of Wali Iraq called Jassim Al-Mazrouei Abu Abdul Qader and other leaders from the front line.”
DNA tests are still being conducted to identify other ISIS members who were killed in the raid, according to the statement, which also said the raid took place in the Hamrin Mountains in northern Iraq.
The statement also said that the raid resulted in the seizure of “large quantities of weapons, ammunition and equipment” and the destruction of “a large workshop for booby-trapping and manufacturing explosive devices.”
The raid is the latest operation involving the U.S. against ISIS since the U.S. Central Command said that U.S. forces conducted airstrikes in Syria earlier this month against multiple known ISIS camps.
Ryder also said that the department is still conducting “post-mission analysis” on this latest overnight raid and would share more information subsequently.
The raid is also the latest “partnered” operation between U.S. and Iraqi forces, months after Iraq postponed announcing an end-date for the U.S.-led military coalition’s presence in the country amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
Iraq’s Higher Military Commission had aimed to propose an end date for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military operation combatting ISIS.
“We were very close to announcing this agreement, but due to recent developments, the announcement of the end of the international coalition’s military mission in Iraq was postponed,” a statement by Iraq’s foreign ministry said, without giving further details on what the “recent developments.”
Since that statement, tensions in the region have only escalated. Israel has intensified its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon while continuing the war against Hamas in Gaza and promising a response against Iran for a missile attack against Israel.
And the Pentagon has only strengthened the U.S. military presence in the Middle East since last year, with roughly 40,000 US troops in the region as of August. The U.S. has also continued operations to target ISIS in the Middle East and Africa.
“We are committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS because of the threat they pose both regionally and globally,” commander Gen. Erik Kurilla said in April. “We continue to focus our efforts on specifically targeting those members of ISIS who are seeking to conduct external operations outside of Iraq and Syria and those ISIS members attempting to break out ISIS members in detention in an attempt to reconstitute their forces.”
Earlier this month, the head of the United Kingdom’s domestic security service MI5 said that ISIS, along with al-Qaida, are presenting a “resurgent” threat.
“After a few years of being pinned well back, they’ve resumed efforts to export terrorism,” MI5’s Director General Ken McCallum said in a speech in London.
Contributing: Mohammed Tawfeeq
