At approximately 0231 EST, reports began to emerge of Syrian Armed Forces shelling in al-Bab, Syria. By 0349 EST, pro-Syrian telegram pages began to claim that U.S. drone strikes had actually caused the explosions and that they were targeting a building on Khalu Street. The strike reportedly injured several civilians according to the pro-Assad regime pages. The following images show the damage from the strikes:
By 0502 EST, pro-Assad sources began to claim that the U.S. forces targeted a Yemeni national. However it was not until 0651 EST that sources began identifying the Yemeni national as a senior ISIS member. According to these sources that man was Basaa Ahmad al-Suwadi, who was moved to a local hospital due to his injuries.
United States Central Command then announced in a press release that several operations were conducted in Eastern Syria that resulted in the detainment of six ISIS fighters including Syria Province Senior Official al-Zubaydi. Although these operations seem separate from the aforementioned strike, these events illuminate the extremely dynamic and coordinated coalition led operations against ISIS despite decreased cooperation from the Syrian Defense Forces in the face of renewed Turkish aggression in Northern Syria.
At 1621 EST, 19DEC22 reports began to emerge of a U.S. helicopter-borne raid in al-Shaddadi, Syria. Several explosions rocked the settlement and civilians reported seeing laser designators shinning on a residential building from one of the helicopters. From that raid alone, one to four people were reportedly detained.
A second raid was reported by pro-Syrian opposition forces at 0505 EST on 20DEC22 when U.S. forces landed in al-Sour, Deir Ezzor Governate, Syria. According to those sources, three were detained including an SDF members and a suspected arms dealer. This report is single source and needs further corroboration.
