U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Friday that senior terror operatives from ISIS and Hezbollah were killed in separate military operations.
CENTCOM forces conducted a raid in al-Bab, located in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate, killing senior ISIS figure Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani and his two adult sons, both of whom were also linked to the terror group. According to a CENTCOM statement, the raid did not result in any harm to the three women and three children who were also at the target site.
“These ISIS individuals posed a threat to U.S. and Coalition Forces, as well as the new Syrian Government,” the statement read. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said U.S. forces would “relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists,” warning that they are “not safe where they sleep, where they operate and where they hide.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the raid as the first of its kind and claimed that both U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus special units were involved.
In a separate development, the IDF announced it had killed Ali Mohammad Hassan Qoutan, a key Hezbollah operative serving as the personnel officer for the group’s Bint Jbeil sector. Qoutan was reportedly active in efforts to rebuild Hezbollah following the Israeli strike that killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September 2024.
In its statement, the IDF said Qoutan’s actions were “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
