Khaled Ahmed al-Dandal, the chief of ISIS, was apprehended by the U.S. on Sunday. Al-Dandal had previously assisted other ISIS members in escaping from a Syrian prison. Days after five ISIS foreign terrorists broke out of the Raqqah Detention Facility, US forces working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took Al-Dandal, according to US Central Command.
The SDF apprehended two individuals who had escaped: Muhammad Noh Muhammad, a Libyan, and Imam Abdulwahed Akhwan, a Russian. Atal Khaled Zar, Afghan Shuab Muhammad Al-Abdli, and Russian Timor Talbrken Abdash are the three still at large. It is said that Al-Dandal served as the “facilitator” for their escape.
“Over 9,000 ISIS detainees remain in over 20 SDF detention facilities in Syria, a literal and figurative ‘ISIS Army’ in detention,” stated CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla. There would be tremendous risk to the area and beyond if many of these ISIS fighters managed to flee. We’ll keep collaborating with the international community to send these ISIS militants back to their home nations so that a final decision can be made.
CENTCOM claims that one of ISIS’s main goals is still to release its fighters who are being kept captive and then provide support for an ISIS resurgence. In an operation in Western Iraq last week, the US military and Iraqi Security Forces targeted ISIS militants, killing at least fifteen of the group’s members.
Terrorists with ties to ISIS threatened Taylor Swift performances in Austria last month. Furthermore, a mass stabbing attack that occurred recently in the German city of Solingen was claimed by ISIS.
