US commanders kill 12 ISIL militants, including head of oil operations: American military official

US commanders kill 12 ISIL militants, including head of oil operations: American military official

..."The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria...."
..."Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
Apparently, this was first time since the US had started bombing ISIL positions that American troops slipped into Syria and carried out a raid against militants...."

Sat May 16, 2015 8:37PM

M240 machine gun mounted on V-22 Osprey aircraft loading ramp. The aircraft which take off and land like helicopters and cruise like planes were used by US Army commandos in an operation on Saturday against ISIL militants in Syria.

US forces have launched an operation inside Syria, without coordination with the Syrian government, claiming to have killed a senior ISIL commander.
An American military official said the man killed by US Special Operations forces along with several other militants early on Saturday in Syria was the ISIL terrorist group’s head of oil operations in the country.
The official with knowledge of details of the raid said a team of Delta Force commandos entered Syria from Iraq under cover of darkness aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, which take off and land like helicopters and cruise like planes.
ISIL commander Abu Sayyaf and his men offered stiff resistance and even fired at their aircraft, causing bullet-hole damage to Osprey, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the raid details.
The operation was carried out in Deir ez-Zor province, located in in the eastern part of Syria.

A V-22 Osprey flies in Ramadi west of Baghdad, Iraq. (file photo)

"The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies," US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.
According to other American officials, Abu Sayyaf, known as the ISIL "emir of oil and gas,” was shot dead, along with an estimated dozen ISIL militants. Officials said that no American was killed or injured.
Officials said, before the sun had come out, the commandos flew back to Iraq where Abu Sayyaf's wife, Umm Sayyaf, was being interrogated in US custody.
The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
Apparently, this was first time since the US had started bombing ISIL positions that American troops slipped into Syria and carried out a raid against militants.

Smoke rises from an ISIL position in eastern Kobani, Syria, after an airstrike by the US led coalition, Nov. 8, 2014.

According to the US Treasury Department, ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria are amassing a fortune of $1 million a day through black market oil sales.
However, according to media reports, ISIL is in control of seven oil fields only in Iraq and large amounts of the country’s wheat supplies.
The output capacity of the ISIL-held oil fields amounts to 80,000 barrels a day, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a monthly oil market report last year.
The potential oil flow from Iraq’s ISIL-held deposits is commensurate to about $8.4 million a day on international markets.
GJH/GJH