US Raid Killed Undercover Syrian, Not ISIS Official: Family

A raid by US forces and a local Syrian group aiming to capture an Islamic State official instead killed a man who'd been working undercover gathering intelligence on the extremists, family and Syrian officials tell the AP. The October killing underscores the complex political and security landscape as the United States begins working with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the fight against remnants of ISIS. Per relatives, Khaled al-Masoud had been spying on the militants for years on behalf of the insurgents led by al-Sharaa, then for al-Sharaa's interim government, established after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad last year.

Al-Sharaa's insurgents were mainly Islamists, some who were connected to al-Qaeda but were enemies of ISIS who often clashed with it over the past decade. Neither US nor Syrian government officials have commented on al-Masoud's death. The Oct. 19 raid occurred in Dumayr, east of Damascus. Residents said US troops conducted the raid alongside the Syrian Free Army, a US-trained opposition faction that had fought against Assad. The SFA now reports to the Syrian Defense Ministry.

Al-Masoud's cousin said on the morning of the raid, he opened his door and saw Humvees with US flags. al-Masoud's mother, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, said the forces then surrounded her son's house next door, where he was with his wife and five daughters, and banged on the door. Al-Masoud told them he was with General Security, a Syrian Interior Ministry force, but they broke down the door and shot him, then took him away, al-Kilani said. Later, government security officials told the family he'd been released but was in the hospital. The family was then called to pick up his body.

Al-Masoud's family believes he was targeted based on faulty intelligence from SFA members. Reps from that group didn't respond to requests for comment. Al-Masoud had worked with al-Sharaa's insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, before Assad's fall, his cousin said. He then returned to Dumayr and worked with the security services of al-Sharaa's government. Two Syrian security officials and one political official confirmed that al-Masoud had been working with Syria's interim government in a security role. Two of the officials said he'd worked on combating ISIS.