In a pre-dawn raid on Monday, US special operations forces killed a senior leader of the Islamic State's Syria franchise in the country's northwest. Two other individuals were also killed in the operation, but their identities are unknown. The US forces did not suffer any casualties, and no individuals were captured. The raid targeted a senior ISIS leader and operational planner involved in planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe. The operation involved several US helicopters, which landed near the village of Al-Ghandoura in the countryside outside of Jarabalus, an area nominally controlled by Syrian militias backed by Turkey. The area has been an active ground for ISIS fighters since the group surrendered its final territory in Syria to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in March 2019. The US has roughly 900 troops in Syria, working alongside the SDF to track down fugitive ISIS leaders and secure makeshift prisons holding ISIS detainees. However, the violent insurgency has persisted in some parts of the country.