A file image of the aftermath of a airstrike on Syria.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya speaks to the media. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A raid by U.S. forces and a local Syrian group aiming to capture an Islamic State (IS) group official instead killed a man who had been working undercover gathering intelligence on the extremists, family members and Syrian officials have told The Associated Press.

The killing in October underscores the complex political and security landscape as the United States begins working with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in the fight against remnants of IS.

According to relatives, Khaled al-Masoud had been spying on IS for years on behalf of the insurgents led by Mr. al-Sharaa and then for Mr. al-Sharaa’s interim government, established after the fall of former President Bashar Assad a year ago. Mr. Al-Sharaa’s insurgents were mainly Islamists, some connected to al-Qaida, but enemies of IS who often clashed with it over the past decade.

Neither U.S. nor Syrian government officials have commented on al-Masoud’s death, an indication that neither side wants the incident to derail improving ties. Weeks after the October 19 raid, Mr. al-Sharaa visited Washington and announced Syria would join the global coalition against IS.

Still, al-Masoud’s death could be “quite a setback” for efforts to combat IS, said Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow with the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank focused on security issues.

Al-Masoud had been infiltrating IS in the southern deserts of Syria known as the Badiya, one of the places where remnants of the extremist group have remained active, Mr. Nasr said.

The raid targeting him was a result of “the lack of coordination between the coalition and Damascus,” Mr. Nasr said.

In the latest sign of the increasing cooperation, the U.S. Central Command said on Sunday (November 30, 2025) that American troops and forces from Syria’s Interior Ministry had located and destroyed 15 IS weapons caches in the south.

Confusion around the raid

The raid occurred in Dumayr, a town east of Damascus on the edge of the desert. At around 3 a.m., residents woke to the sound of heavy vehicles and planes.

Residents said U.S. troops conducted the raid alongside the Syrian Free Army, a U.S.-trained opposition faction that had fought against Assad. The SFA now officially reports to the Syrian Defence Ministry.

Al-Masoud’s cousin, Abdel Kareem Masoud, said he opened his door and saw Humvees with U.S. flags on them.

“There was someone on top of one of them who spoke broken Arabic, who pointed a machine gun at us and a green laser light and told us to go back inside,” he said.

Khaled al-Masoud’s mother, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, said the forces then surrounded her son’s house next door, where he was with his wife and five daughters, and banged on the door.

Al-Masoud told them that he was with General Security, a force under Syria’s Interior Ministry, but they broke down the door and shot him, Ms. al-Kilani said.

They took him away, wounded, Ms. al-Kilani said. Later, government security officials told the family he had been released but was in the hospital. The family was then called to pick up his body. It was unclear when he had died.

“How did he die? We don’t know,” his mother said. “I want the people who took him from his children to be held accountable.”

Faulty intelligence

Al-Masoud’s family believes he was targeted based on faulty intelligence provided by members of the Syrian Free Army.

Representatives of the SFA did not respond to requests for comment.

Al-Masoud had worked with Mr. al-Sharaa’s insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, in its northwestern enclave of Idlib before Assad’s fall, his cousin said. Then he returned to Dumayr and worked with the security services of Mr. al-Sharaa’s Government.

Two Syrian security officials and one political official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed that al-Masoud had been working with Syria’s interim government in a security role. Two of the officials said he had worked on combating IS.

Initial media reports on the raid said it had captured an IS official. But U.S. Central Command, which typically issues statements when a U.S. operation kills or captures a member of the extremist group in Syria, made no announcement.

A U.S. defence official, when asked for more information about the raid, its target, and whether it had been coordinated with Syria’s government, said, “We are aware of these reports but do not have any information to provide.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.

Representatives of Syria’s defence and interior ministries, and of U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, declined to comment.

Increased coordination could prevent mistakes

At its peak in 2015, IS controlled a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria, half the size of the United Kingdom. It was notorious for its brutality against religious minorities, as well as Muslims who did not adhere to the group’s extreme interpretation of Islam.

After years of fighting, the U.S.-led coalition broke the group’s last hold on territory in late 2019. Since then, U.S. troops in Syria have been working to ensure IS does not regain a foothold. The U.S. estimates IS still has about 2,500 members in Syria and Iraq. U.S. Central Command last month said the number of IS attacks there had fallen to 375 for the year so far, compared to 1,038 last year.

Fewer than 1,000 U.S. troops are believed to be operating in Syria, carrying out airstrikes and conducting raids against IS cells. They work mainly alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast and the Syrian Free Army in the south.

Now the U.S. has another partner: the security forces of the new Syrian government.

Airwars, a London-based conflict monitor, has reported 52 incidents in which civilians were harmed or killed in coalition operations in Syria since 2020.

The group classified al-Masoud as a civilian.

Airwars director Emily Tripp said the group has seen “multiple instances of what the U.S. call mistakes,’” including a 2023 case in which the U.S. military announced it had killed an al-Qaida leader in a drone strike. The target later turned out to be a civilian farmer.

It was unclear if the October 19 raid went wrong due to faulty intelligence or if someone deliberately fed the coalition false information. Mr. Nasr said that in the past, feuding groups have sometimes used the coalition to settle scores.

“That’s the whole point of having a hotline with Damascus, in order to see who’s who on the ground,” he said.

Representational image showing the flag and terrorists of the Islamic State.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese national in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province, in a post on its Telegram channel late on Wednesday (January 22, 2025).

Afghan police in the province had said on Wednesday that a Chinese citizen was murdered and a preliminary investigation had been launched, but it was not clear who was behind the attack.

The Islamic State said it had targeted a vehicle carrying the Chinese citizen, which led to his death and damage to his vehicle.

China was the first country to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan under the Taliban and has said it wants to boost trade and investment ties.

The Taliban took over in 2021, vowing to restore security to the war-torn nation.

Attacks have continued, including an assault in 2022 on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese investors. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for many of them.

New Delhi:

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, an attack in the US city of New Orleans left at least 15 dead and dozens injured. The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US Army veteran, drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd. Jabbar, who died in a shoot-out with police, was a lone-wolf terrorist who had pledged allegiance to the terror group ISIS in online videos posted just hours before the assault, according to the FBI.

There were five videos posted on Jabbar’s Facebook account. In the first video, Jabbar said he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned that the news headline would not focus on “war between the believers and disbelievers.”

This attack marked the deadliest ISIS-inspired assault on US soil since the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which saw 49 people killed.

Lone-Wolf Tactics

The Islamic State has not officially claimed responsibility for the New Orleans attack. Unlike coordinated terrorist cells, lone wolves like Jabbar operate independently, often inspired by extremist propaganda disseminated online. This modus operandi of lone wolves is a challenge to traditional counterterrorism strategies, which rely heavily on infiltrating networks and intercepting communications.

Lone offenders typically employ “easy-access” methods such as vehicle ramming, edged weapons, or firearms to inflict mass casualties. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center issued a bulletin on December 6, 2024, warning law enforcement agencies about potential lone-wolf attacks during the holiday season. Despite these warnings, the New Orleans tragedy could not be averted.

Online Extremism

Following its territorial defeat in 2019, ISIS has shifted its focus to the digital realm, establishing what counterterrorism experts describe as a “Digital Caliphate.” This online network uses social media, encrypted messaging apps, and dark web platforms to radicalise individuals, share propaganda, and provide tactical guidance for attacks.

Investigators probing the New Orleans attack found videos Jabbar posted online just hours before the assault, pledging loyalty to ISIS and calling for violence. While his radicalisation process remains under investigation, early findings suggest he may have been influenced by online platforms where extremist content flourishes.

Social media companies have made strides in removing extremist content, but the rapid migration of such materials to encrypted platforms poses a challenge.

Domestic Radicalisation

Jabbar was a US Army veteran with no prior known ties to extremist networks. According to authorities, his radicalisation appeared to occur relatively quickly and was likely driven by personal grievances.

This pattern mirrors other recent cases in which individuals have turned to extremist ideologies as a means of finding purpose or expressing anger. Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), the Central Asia-based affiliate of ISIS, has been particularly effective in leveraging online platforms to radicalise individuals.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man behind an assassination attempt on US President-elect Donald Trump in July last year, acted as a lone wolf. Crooks was not part of any terror group, neither were the police able to establish any connection between him and extremist ideologies.

Experts have warned that the psychological profiles of lone-actor terrorists often reveal a combination of personal instability and ideological alignment with extremist causes.

Washington:

American forces killed an Islamic State (IS) group leader and another of the group’s members in a strike in Syria, the US military said on Friday.

Washington has stepped up military action against the jihadist group since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government earlier this month, hitting areas that were shielded by Syrian and Russian air defenses before a lightning offensive by rebels who now control the country.

The strike took place Thursday in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, killing IS leader “Abu Yusif” and another operative, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media, without providing further details on the two jihadists.

“This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM said.

The strike “was conducted in an area formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians,” it added.

The United States has for years carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent a resurgence of IS, but has launched dozens of strikes since Assad’s fall.

On December 8 — the day rebels took the capital Damascus — Washington announced strikes on more than 75 IS targets that CENTCOM said were aimed at ensuring it “does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria.”

And on Monday, CENTCOM said US forces killed 12 militants from the group in strikes it said were carried out “in former regime and Russian-controlled areas.”

The announcement of the latest strike came a day after the United States said it had this year doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight.

The United States had for years said it has some 900 military personnel in the country as part of international efforts against the jihadist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighboring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign.

But there are now “approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria” and have been for at least a few months, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists, saying he had just received the updated figure. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya speaks as he visits headquarters of Turkey’s aviation company TUSAS, where people were killed and over a dozen others wounded in an attack, near Kahramankazan, a town of Turkish capital Ankara, on October 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Turkiye’s air force struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) in an apparent retaliation for an attack at a key state-run defence company that killed five people and wounded more than 20 others.

The defence ministry said more than 30 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive, without providing details on the locations that were hit. It said “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent harm to civilians.

The strike came hours after suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire at the aerospace and defence company TUSAS. The two attackers — a man and a woman — also were killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. At least 22 people, including seven security personnel, were injured during the attack.

Mr. Yerlikaya said the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was believed to be behind the attack at the defence company. Defense Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at the PKK.

“We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Guler said. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”

Turkiye regularly conducts airstrikes against the PKK — which has a foothold in Iraq — and against a Kurdish militia group in Syria that is affiliated with the militants.

There was no immediate statement from the PKK.

The Islamic State group and leftist extremists have also carried out past attacks in Turkiye.

“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Russia.

Ankara attack

Turkish media said the assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS complex in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter.

One of the victims was identified as mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu, who had gone to the entrance to collect flowers sent by her husband, the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The taxi driver was also killed by the assailants and his body was found in the trunk of the vehicle, the agency reported.

Orhan Akdundar, a brother of a TUSAS employee, was among relatives waiting outside the complex for news of their loved ones.

“I called my brother who was inside and said, ‘What happened?’ He said a bomb had exploded and said that gunshots continued for a very long time,” Mr. Akdundar said. “There was a huge commotion. The gendarmerie, special forces and other security forces were all here. There were lots of ambulances. Then the phones shut off and I wasn’t able to establish communication.”

An unidentified TUSAS employee shouted: “We will work harder and produce more in defiance of the traitors” as he and other colleagues were being evacuated from the premises, according to a video aired by HaberTurk.

Security camera images, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.

The interior minister said security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30 p.m.

Multiple gunshots were heard after security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.

Authorities issued a temporary blackout on the coverage of the attack and went on to throttle access to social media websites.

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey’s “success in the defence industry.”

The Iraqi Embassy in Ankara issued a statement condemning the attack. It said the embassy “affirms Iraq’s firm position in rejecting terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations, and expresses the solidarity of Iraq’s government and people, with the government and people of the Republic of Turkey.” Earlier this year, Iraq announced a ban on the PKK.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres both expressed their solidarity with Turkey.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also denounced the attack. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims,” he said on X.

About 600 people were killed within a few hours by members affiliated with Al-Qaeda in an August attack on the town of Barsalogho in Burkina Faso, a report claimed on Friday. The residents of Barsalogho were shot dead on August 24 as they dug protective trenches.

The attack, in which most of the victims were women and children, was one of the worst in the West African country’s history, which has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency waged by rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

The members of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in Mali and active in Burkina Faso, shot down villagers as they swept into the outskirts of Barsalogho on bikes.

While the United Nations estimated a death count of around 200, JNIM said it had killed nearly 300 “fighters”. However, CNN, citing a French government security assessment, reported that up to 600 people were shot dead in the attack.

A man, who said he was one of dozens of men told to dig the trenches by the army, told CNN that he was 4 kilometers from the town at about 11 am, in a trench, when he heard the first gunshots.

“I started to crawl into the trench to escape. But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So, I crawled out and came across the first bloodied victim. There was blood everywhere on my way. There was screaming everywhere. I got down on my stomach under a bush, until later in the afternoon, hiding,” he said.

Another survivor, who lost two members of her family in the attack, said JNIM killed people “all day long”.

“For three days we were collecting bodies – scattered everywhere. Fear got into our hearts. At the burial time, there are so many bodies lying on the ground that burying was hard,” she said.

The military reportedly ordered the locals to dig a vast trench network around the town to protect it from jihadists circulating nearby.

JNIM has warned civilians against endorsing the army in its fight against the insurgency.

According to the ACLED analysis group, which tracks global conflict, members affiliated with Al-Qaeda – which was founded by Osama bin Laden and carried out the 9/11 attacks in the US – and the Islamic State group have killed about 3,800 this year.

Since the start of the conflict in 2015, more than 20,000 people have been killed and over two million displaced in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries situated in the Sahel, a region wracked by instability.

(With agency inputs)

Afghan men walk near the site a day after a suicide bomber triggered explosives in front of the General Directorate for Monitoring and Follow-up of Decrees and Directives, in Kabul on September 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility Tuesday (September 3, 2024) for this week’s suicide bombing at a prosecutor’s office in Kabul that killed at least six people and injured 13.

The group said in a statement on its news outlet Amaq that the assailant detonated his explosive-laden vest Monday (September 2, 2024) as investigators and other employees were leaving work, in an attack to avenge people detained in prisons run by the country’s Taliban government.

IS claimed the blast killed 45 people, a far higher number of victims than the death toll of six given Monday (September 2, 2024) by Taliban officials following the blast in the capital’s southwestern Qala Bakhtiar neighbourhood. Officials of the Taliban government were not immediately available for comment on the IS claim.

After the blast, Taliban security forces had cordoned off the area and prevented journalists and other people from approaching the site.

Extremists in Afghanistan have increased their assaults since the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of the country’s Shiite minority.

Six of the men injured in Monday’s (September 2, 2024) blast were taken to a surgical centre in Kabul run by the humanitarian group Emergency NGO, where two of them had to undergo major surgery, group director Dejan Panic said.

Washington:

The United States provided intelligence to Austria that helped disrupt an alleged Islamic State plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, the White House confirmed Friday.

“We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters

“As part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna,” he said.

Three alleged Islamic State sympathizers have been arrested on charges of plotting a suicide attack at the megastar’s concert in Vienna.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)