The following is a partial list of all known ground raids undertaken by United States special operations forces in Syria on forces (primarily those of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) engaged in the Syrian Civil War. Along with conducting raids, U.S. special forces in Syria regularly take part in battles against the Islamic State alongside allied Syrian Democratic Forces, primarily in a "train, advise, and assist" role, with 2,000 U.S. special forces soldiers being deployed in Syria by the end of 2017.[1]
Two dozen U.S. special forces operatives parachuted near an ISIL prison and conducted an assault on it in an attempt to rescue captured journalist James Foley. The special forces swept through the prison, killing 8 ISIL fighters while taking no casualties, but could not locate Foley. They came to the conclusion that Foley had been moved out of the prison the day before, and abandoned the mission. Foley was later executed by ISIL.
On 15 May 2015, 1st SFOD-Delta operators from the Joint Special Operations Command based in Iraq conducted an operation in Al-Amr to capture a senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader named Abu Sayyaf. Sayyaf and his guards resisted capture, resulting in a heavy firefight in which 13 ISIL fighters (including Sayyaf) were killed with zero U.S. casualties. Intelligence discovered in the raid revealed how ISIL was funding itself through the group's construction of a multinational oil operation with help from terrorist-group executives determined to maximize profits. The intelligence also showed how the organization deals with the Syrian regime, handles corruption allegations among top officials and most critically, how international coalition strikes had dented but not destroyed ISIS income. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the raid a “significant blow” against Islamic State and heralded the death of the terror group's No. 2 oil executive.
ISIL's deputy leader in Syria, Abu Ali al-Anbari, was killed by JSOC special forces operatives in March 2016, in eastern Syria near the Syrian–Iraqi border, while he and three other ISIL members were traveling in a vehicle coming from Raqqa. The raid ended in the deaths of 4 ISIL members including Ali. The U.S. Special Forces ordered him to exit the vehicle, intending to arrest him. When he refused and pulled out an assault rifle instead, U.S. forces fired at the vehicle, killing him and the other passengers on board. U.S. commandos also seized electronics and other documents during the operation for intelligence purposes.
On 8 January 2017, U.S. special forces reportedly from Delta carried out a "successful" raid in Syria against leaders of the ISIL group in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. Delta inserted via helicopter and spent roughly 90 minutes on the ground near Deir al-Zour, before witnesses say they left carrying captured ISIL fighters and bodies. At least 25 ISIL fighters were killed during the raid and several were captured.
On the night of 21 March, an undisclosed number of U.S. special forces accompanying hundreds of KurdishSDF fighters launched a large-scale heliborne assault on IS around the area of the Tabqa Dam with the eventual goal of taking the dam. They were inserted on the southern bank of the Euphrates river behind IS's defenses to take them by surprise. The following day, there was heavy fighting in the area; the ground forces were supported by helicopter gunships, U.S. artillery, and U.S. airstrikes. Fighting ensued within the area of the dam for another three weeks. On May 10, the SDF declared the dam fully secured.
2 Coalition helicopters airdropped soldiers near Mayadin and targeted a car en route from Raqqa to Deir ez-Zor. During the landing, U.S. forces killed 4 ISIL commanders and extracted a Jordanianspy, who had infiltrated ISIL and served as one of its leaders.
U.S. special forces killed Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a top facilitator and close associate of ISIS leader who was connected to the New Year's nightclub attack in Turkey.
~100 U.S. JSOC operatives conducted a heliborne raid, launching from western Iraq into the Idlib province on the border with Turkey to kill or capture Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL. Baghdadi died by self-detonating a suicide vest after being chased by American military dogs and being cornered inside a tunnel, killing two of his sons alongside him. 5 other ISIL militants were killed during the raid, as were 10–15 militants of the Guardians of Religion Organization.
U.S. special forces raided ISIL sites in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, in which Ahmad Isa Ismail al-Zawi known as Abu Ali al-Baghdadi, who was a former leader of operations in North Baghdad, blew himself up, and Ahmad Abd Muhammad Hasan al-Jughayfi known as Abu Ammar, a senior logistics and supply official, was killed in a shootout.
U.S. special forces undertook a counterterrorism operation in Atme, resulting in the death of the second ISIS caliph, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
U.S. special forces carried out a helicopter raid, including both Chinook and Black Hawk, in al-Humaira, south of the Turkish border in the Turkish occupied territory, in order to detain a senior ISIS leader Hani Ahmed Al-Kurdi, a bomb maker and facilitator, in addition to capturing nine other militants.
A U.S. helicopter raid, partnered with the Syrian Democratic Forces, killed Hamza al-Homsi, which resulted in four U.S. service members and one working dog wounded, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command.
^Kesling, Ben; Entous, Adam; Paletta, Damian (25 March 2016). "Senior Islamic State Leader Killed". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
