According to Syria’s SANA news agency, the Syrian Interior Ministry announced the arrest of Taha al-Zoubi, the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) organization, in the countryside of Damascus.
Zubi was arrested after a “strictly enforced security operation”, the report said, adding that “a suicide belt and a military-style weapon were seized from his possession”.
SANA quoted Brigadier General Ahmed Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, as saying that the raid, which targeted an Islamic State hideout in Madamiya, southwest of Damascus, was carried out “in cooperation” with an anti-Islamic State coalition that includes the U.S.-led coalition fighting the organization.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has not publicly confirmed the operation.
Dalati said Zubi, also known as Abu Omar al-Tibiya, served as the group’s Damascus governor, and several alleged aides were also detained.
The official added that the arrests dealt a “serious blow” to the Islamic State network in the capital region and showed “the readiness of security agencies.”
“We send a clear message to anyone who dares to participate in terrorist plans or provide support to the Islamic State: no matter where they are, the hand of justice will be extended to them,” Dalati said.
The Islamic State considers the new Damascus government to be illegitimate and its activities are mainly focused on Kurdish forces in the north.
At its peak, the Islamic State ruled an area half the size of Britain, spanning Iraq and Syria, with Raqqa in the latter being the capital of the armed group’s self-declared caliphate.
The group is notorious for its brutality, massacring Syrians and Iraqis and beheading foreign captives.
The Islamic State was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but its fighters and cadres continue to carry out deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere, including in Africa and Afghanistan.
