U.S. Forces Kill "Senior ISIS Leader" In Syria, Capture His Wife

Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Andrew Harnik / AP

U.S. Special Operations Forces killed a "senior ISIS leader" on Friday night during a raid in eastern Syria, officials announced Saturday.

At the direction of President Obama, U.S. forces based in Iraq carried out a mission in al-Amr to capture Abu Sayyaf and his wife Umm Sayyaf.

The senior ISIS leader was killed when he "engaged" the American troops, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement. No American troops were harmed during the operation.

During the raid, U.S. forces captured Umm Sayyaf, whom officials suspect to be an ISIS member. She is currently in U.S. military detention, according to National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.

"[She] played an important role in ISIL's terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement of a young Yezidi woman rescued last night," Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the terrorist group.

Yazidis are an ethnic and religious minority in Iraq who have been killed and abducted by fanatic ISIS militants.

Meehan said efforts are underway to reunite the abducted Yazidi woman with her family.

"The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies," Carter said.

SOURCE: BuzzFeed