A joint raid by the US forces and an area Syrian group focusing on an Islamic State (IS) militant as a substitute resulted within the killing of a person who had been working undercover to assemble intelligence on the jihadist organisation, his household and Syrian officers instructed The Related Press.Khaled al-Masoud was killed on October 19 throughout the operation in Dumayr, a city east of Damascus, the Syrian capital.In accordance with his relations, al-Masoud had spent years spying on IS — first for the rebel forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and later for al-Sharaa’s interim authorities, which was shaped in January following the December 2024 ouster of then-President Bashar al-Assad.
Native residents instructed AP that the US troops carried out the raid alongside the Syrian Free Military (SFA), a US-trained opposition faction that after fought in opposition to Assad and now operates beneath the Syrian Protection Ministry.Residents recall raidAt round 3 am on October 19, residents woke to the sound of heavy automobiles and planes.Al-Masoud’s cousin, Abdel Kareem Masoud, recalled opening his door to search out Humvees bearing American flags.“There was somebody on prime of one among them who spoke damaged Arabic, pointed a machine gun at us with a inexperienced laser, and instructed us to return inside,” he recounted.The sufferer’s mom, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, alleged that the forces then surrounded her son’s home subsequent door — the place he was staying together with his spouse and 5 daughters — and banged on the door.In accordance with her, al-Masoud was shot regardless of telling the troops he labored with Common Safety, an Inside Ministry drive. She claimed he was taken away whereas wounded. Later, authorities safety officers knowledgeable the household he had been launched however was in a hospital. The household was subsequently known as to gather his physique. The precise time and reason for his dying stay unclear.“How did he die? We don’t know. I would like the individuals who took him from his kids to be held accountable,” she stated.The household believes he was focused on the idea of “defective intelligence” supplied by SFA members.Al-Masoud had beforehand labored with Ahmed al-Sharaa’s rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, in its Idlib stronghold earlier than Assad’s fall, his cousin stated. After returning to Dumayr, he served within the safety equipment of al-Sharaa’s interim authorities.Following the operation, early media stories claimed an “IS official” had been captured. Nonetheless, the US Central Command — which routinely points statements on operations that kill or detain IS members in Syria — made no announcement concerning the incident.Fewer than 1,000 US troops are believed to be working in Syria, conducting airstrikes and floor raids in opposition to IS cells. They work primarily alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces within the northeast and with the SFA within the south.
