Syrian authorities announced Thursday that security forces, operating in coordination with the US-led international coalition, eliminated a senior Islamic State (ISIS) commander and arrested another terrorist in a series of counterterrorism raids near Damascus, AFP reported.
According to the Syrian Interior Ministry, security and intelligence units carried out a “precise security operation” in the Damascus countryside, conducted jointly with coalition partners.
“The operation resulted in neutralizing the terrorist Mohammad Shahada, known as ‘Abu Omar Shaddad’, who is considered one of the prominent ISIS leaders in Syria,” the ministry said in a statement.
“This operation comes as confirmation of the effectiveness of joint coordination between the national security agencies and international partners,” the statement added.
Later on Thursday, the ministry reported that forces “in joint co-ordination with international coalition forces” detained “the leader of a terrorist cell affiliated with the ISIS organization” in another area near the capital. Weapons and ammunition were seized at the scene.
The announcements come a day after Syrian authorities said they had captured Taha al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya - identified as another ISIS leader active in the Damascus region - along with several of his associates, in another joint mission with the US-led coalition.
ISIS overran large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled.
Several military offensives, including ones backed by a US-led international coalition, have since seen ISIS lose most areas it once controlled, including the loss of their de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.
However, ISIS sleeper cells remain in the area and continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq. The US deploys troops in Syria as part of its effort to defeat ISIS in the region.
In late November, forces from US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Syrian Ministry of Interior located and destroyed more than 15 sites containing ISIS weapons caches in southern Syria.
Earlier this week, CENTCOM forces struck more than 70 ISIS targets at multiple locations across central Syria with fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery. The Jordanian Armed Forces also supported with fighter aircraft.
The operation came in response to the killing of two US service members and one civilian in an ISIS ambush in Palmyra.