U.S. Central Command captured a senior ISIS leader in Syria

The United States detained a top ISIS leader in Syria. The detained leader is Khaled Ahmed al-Dandal, who helped five prisoners from the terrorist group recently escape from the Raqqa detention center, located in Syria.

The news was confirmed by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which worked in conjunction with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Al-Dandal reportedly acted as a "facilitator" for the escape of the group of terrorists, three of whom remain at large.

Currently, there are more than 9,000 ISIS detainees spread across the more than 20 SDF detention centers. According to Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, this amounts to "an ISIS Army" that is "still literally and figuratively detained."

"If a large number of these ISIS fighters were to escape, it would pose an extreme danger to the region and beyond," he continued. At the same time, he remarked that the U.S. continues to work side by side with the international community to repatriate ISIS fighters to their home countries.

One example is the recent work of U.S. forces with their Iraqi counterparts, together with whom they managed to eliminate some 15 ISIS members.

The terrorist group had a busy 2024, with some 153 terrorist operations during the first months of the year in Iraq and Syria, 22 more than in 2023. "The increase in attacks indicates that ISIS is attempting to reconstitute itself after several years of diminished capability," noted CENTCOM in July.

Although ISIS lost territories it controlled in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019, cells remain in both countries and abroad.