Shafaq News – Damascus
A Syrian military source said on Saturday that Abu Hamza al-Athari, identified as a senior ISIS operative responsible for the Palmyra attack, was killed in a joint intelligence-led operation involving Syrian and Iraqi forces under the direction of the Global Coalition in the Raqqa countryside.
The source, who preferred to stay anonymous, told Shafaq News that al-Athari was killed in an airstrike carried out by the Global Coalition aircraft on the town of Maadan, east of Raqqa, revealing that he was “the primary planner” behind the Palmyra attack and oversaw ISIS operations across Deir Ez-Zor countryside and Syria’s central desert region.
Earlier this month, two US soldiers and one US civilian were killed, and three other American service members were wounded, when an ISIS-affiliated individual within Syrian security forces ambushed a joint meeting between US forces and Syrian security personnel in Palmyra, central Syria.
Today at dawn, the US forces commenced "OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE" in Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites, in direct response to the attack on US forces in Palmyra.
The US Central Command said its forces struck more than 70 targets across central Syria using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery, with support from Jordanian fighter aircraft. The operation involved the use of more than 100 precision-guided munitions targeting ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage sites.
Shafaq News correspondent reported that the raids targeted positions and bases belonging to ISIS across desert areas in the Syrian provinces of Deir Ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Homs.
The strikes were accompanied by successive explosions heard in both western and eastern rural areas of Deir Ez-Zor, as well as in the town of Maadan in the Raqqa countryside.
The General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces welcomed the coalition’s strikes, warning that ISIS continues to pose a direct danger and seeks to exploit any security vacuum or operational lapse to reorganize its ranks.
According to the SDF, hundreds of security and military operations have been carried out this year against ISIS cells, resulting in the arrest of senior figures and the dismantling of active networks, with direct support from the Global Coalition through air cover and intelligence sharing.