U.S. Takes on ISIS with ‘Secret Drone Program’

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and U.S. Special Operations have launched a secret drone program designed to target leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. The program, however, is not part of the “broader U.S. military offensive against the Islamic State,” reports the Washington Post.

Along with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the CIA is responsible for several of the recent drone strikes that successfully killed ISIS militants in Syria, U.S. officials told the Post.

Among the recent targets was Junaid Hussain, a British-born ISIS member who is alleged to have been the leader of a group of hackers.

The U.S. executed its first drone strike against ISIS from Turkish soil last month. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the militant group now controls over half of all Syrian territory.

ISIS Attacks in Aleppo

ISIS attacks on rival rebel groups have intensified over the past month in northern Aleppo, an area that falls within the territory that the U.S. and Turkey plan to turn into an ISIS-free “safe-zone.”

The U.S.-Turkish plan would clear the area of all ISIS fighters, as well as those from Syrian government forces and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), reports Al-Monitor.

Since August 4, ISIS has launched a sustained campaign against other rebel groups in the area. Its largest attack thus far came on August 27, when it took over Dalhah and Harjala – two villages on the Turkish border – and Herbel, a town near Marea.

During that attack, rebel groups fought back and killed at least 50 ISIS fighters, Al-Monitor adds.

ISIS Executes Nearly 100 in August: Syrian Observatory

ISIS executed at least 90 people throughout August, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Of that total, at least one-third of those killed were civilians, the watchdog estimates.

Among the executed were Syrian army soldiers, rebels from rival groups and ISIS members, Agence France-Press reports. Several had been accused of offenses such as witchcraft, homosexuality and working with the U.S.-led coalition.

The Observatory estimates that ISIS has executed at least 3,156 people in Syria since June 2014, including 1,841 civilians.

Photo: An ISIS checkpoint outside of Raqqa regulates who comes and goes. (Syria Deeply contributor)

Recommended Reads

• BBC: From Syria to Sweden, One Migrant’s 2,000-Mile Journey
• The New Yorker: Who Can You Trust on the Syrian Border?
• Newsweek: What Is Lost with ISIS’s Destruction of Syria’s Temple of Bel?
• The Daily Beast: Russia Puts Boots on the Ground in Syria