Thread: US Kills Senior IS Figure

(Foto: The Star)

Bangkok Post / DPA
May 16, 2015

CAIRO — US commandos killed a senior leader of the militant Islamic State group in a raid in Syria, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Saturday. Carter said the raid in the eastern Syrian town of al-Amr was carried out on Friday night to capture Abu Sayyaf, who was involved in military operations by Islamic State.

Abu Sayyaf was killed during the operation when he engaged US forces, according to the official. "[He] helped direct the terrorist organisation's illicit oil, gas, and financial operations as well," Carter said in a statement.

US forces captured Abu Sayyaf's wife, suspected by Washington of being a member of Islamic State and of playing an important role in the militia's terrorist activities. She is currently in US military detention in Iraq.

No US forces were killed or injured in the raid, Carter said. "The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL," he said, using an acronymn for Islamic State.

The White House said Saturday's raid was ordered by President Barack Obama and carried out by US personnel based in Iraq.

Islamic State rules large parts of Syria and Iraq. The al-Qaeda splinter group has been the target of US-led airstrikes in both countries in recent months.

US kills top IS figure | Bangkok Post: news

May 17, 2015
By Caitlin Dickson

Before Saturday, most Americans had never heard of Abu Sayyaf. But according to the Department of Defense, the senior Islamic State leader wielded the kind of power worthy of sending U.S. Special Operations forces into eastern Syria on a rare and risky mission to capture him.

That power, officials announced following the raid that ultimately killed Sayyaf, involved the major black market business fueling the Islamic State.

“Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations — a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians,” said National Security Counsel spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan in a statement.

Last year, investigations into Islamic State finances revealed that illicit oil sales were among the terrorist organization’s more lucrative ventures, generating an estimated $1 million a day to fund its violent expansion across Iraq and Syria. In November, The Guardian reported that several U.S. airstrikes on IS-controlled oil refineries and tankers hardly interfered with militant group’s increasingly sophisticated smuggling network, which by then reached from about six Iraqi oilfields into Iran, Jordan and Turkey.

The intention of Friday night’s raid was to capture Sayyaf alive, but, as the Defense Department reported, he was killed after trying to “engage” U.S. forces. Still, both the Pentagon and the White House hailed the mission as a success, resulting not only in the seizure of some of Sayyaf’s communications equipment and other potentially valuable materials, but also the capture of his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who is also suspected to be a member of the Islamic State and a key player in the group’s terrorist activities.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Umm Sayyaf, who is currently detained in Iraq, might additionally have been “complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement of a young Yezidi [sic] woman rescued last night.”

According to reports from the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the Iraqi government, the Islamic State’s violent persecution of the Yazidi, a religious minority, has included forced conversions and mass murders as well as the kidnapping, systematic rape and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women.

While Carter declared the operation — Sayyaf’s death included — a “significant blow” to the Islamic State, some experts responded to the announcement with caution.

In an interview with the New York Times, former CIA analyst and White House national security advisor Bruce Riedel said it seemed like the raid was “a collection mission, the goal to capture someone or two someones who can explain how ISIS works.”

While suggesting that, in lieu of Sayyaf, “perhaps the wife can do that,” Riedel added, “To me, it demonstrates we still have large gaps in our understanding of the enemy and how it is organized.”

CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen was similarly skeptical. Pointing out that raids like the one on Sayyaf likely put the Islamic State’s leadership on high alert to operate more carefully, he questioned the real value of the mission.

“Taking out the guy who runs effectively the most important financing stream is obviously significant,” he said. “But what’s really significant is the computer records and all the materials that he would have with him as the head of this financing arm, if indeed that is the case that he is really that important.”

What we know about Abu Sayyaf: The Islamic State leader killed by U.S. forces

He was important enough to send Delta force deep into enemy controlled territory. Will be interesting to see if the intelligence gathered will lead to more raids like this one.

OK, they killed this guy, now tell me what did that achive.

Probably achived, fook all!

Originally Posted by Mozzbie47

OK, they killed this guy, now tell me what did that achive.

Neither pro nor con - but "what did that achieve" remains to be seen, and in all likelihood will never be discussed, investigated or revealed.

This is just another incident which will be forgotten about in the short term.

Someone in 'Delta Force' will be along soon to claim he shot Abu Sayyaf.

More hate filled extremists to be recruited.

Originally Posted by Mozzbie47

OK, they killed this guy, now tell me what did that achive.

A "senior" leader with a "senior" role, no doubt in some "senior" area with other "senior" people, the guy was just awash with "seniority". seems that when you join an Islamic insurgency you start at the rank of Colonel.

Appears to have been some middle ranker in their business section, in other words a former Ba'ath party functionary who, like so many of them, switched to IS in order to regain some of his former power and wealth rather than for religious reasons.

Strange how many of these people get promoted after being blown away. How many "Second in Commands" of Al Qaeda were killed before they got to Bin laden?

Originally Posted by Horatio Hornblower

More hate filled extremists to be recruited.

Originally Posted by Mozzbie47

OK, they killed this guy, now tell me what did that achive.

Yep, dont have to be smart to figure that one out do ya.