Published: 12:53, August 21, 2025
State media: US-led coalition kills IS commander in NW Syria raid
By Xinhua
A man walks past the rubble of a war-damaged building in Saraqib, on the outskirts of Idlib, northern Syria, Jan 13, 2025. (PHOTO / AP)

DAMASCUS - US-led coalition forces carried out an airborne raid on a house in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib on Wednesday, killing a man, reportedly an Islamic State commander, according to state media.

Syria's state TV channel al-Ikhbariya reported that coalition troops surrounded the house in the town of Atmeh before storming it. The man attempted to escape by jumping from a balcony into the garden, but was shot dead. Coalition units then searched the house, confiscated cell phones and electronic devices, and questioned the landlord. The victim's body was later taken to Bab al-Hawa hospital, the report added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the raid targeted a senior Islamic State figure identified as "Abu Hafs al-Qurashi," an Iraqi national who had been hiding in the Atmeh camps. It reported that several helicopters took part in the operation, which was launched from a US base at Sarin airfield near Kobani in northern Syria.

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According to the monitor, heavy gunfire erupted as coalition forces deployed in surrounding streets while local security units under the Syrian interior authority imposed a cordon around the area. After securing the site, coalition troops arrested the IS commander, though it remained unclear whether several foreign women found with him were also detained.

Local sources told the Observatory that one body was retrieved from the house after the 90-minute operation ended and the helicopters withdrew.

The Observatory said al-Qurashi was a prominent IS figure involved in recruiting foreign fighters and facilitating their movements inside Syria.

In July, the monitor documented the killing of three jihadist figures in suspected coalition airstrikes in northern Idlib.