The Central Command of the US Army announced the implementation of two military operations in northern Syria, which resulted in the killing of a number of ISIS leaders in Syria.

US forces said they carried out an air strike on Thursday in northern Syria that killed two Islamic State members, one of whom was the group's leader, Abu Hashem al-Omawi.

The strike came hours after a rare air strike by a US helicopter targeted a village under the control of the regime in northeastern Syria, which resulted in the death of another official in the organization.

An official in the US Central Command had confirmed to Al-Jazeera that the US forces launched an air strike on Wednesday in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northern Syria, which resulted in the killing of high-ranking leaders of the Islamic State in Syria.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted the official as saying that the air strike killed Rakan Waheed Al-Shammari (Abu Ala), who is the deputy leader of the organization in Syria, and one of its 5 most senior officials.

He added that the air strike also killed Abu Moaz al-Qahtani, who is responsible for prisoner affairs in the organization.

The US military command in the Middle East, CENTCOM, also confirmed in a statement that the operation targeted Al-Shammari.

The operation took place in the village of Molouk in the countryside of Qamishli, which is one of the few villages under the control of regime-affiliated groups in Al-Hasakah Governorate, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish fighters and where the coalition forces are deployed.

This is the first time that US forces have carried out an operation in a village under the influence of the Syrian regime, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Hundreds of American soldiers are deployed as part of a US-led coalition against the organization and continue to fight with its allies from the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Transport fighters and weapons

CENTCOM said that on Wednesday evening, US forces launched a helicopter raid near Qamishli, targeting Rakan Waheed Al-Shamri, an official in the Islamic State, known for facilitating weapons smuggling and the secret transportation of fighters.

The US military added that "the targeted person was killed, one of his companions was wounded, and two others were arrested," without specifying their nationalities.

According to the same source, no American soldiers were killed or injured, and no civilian casualties were recorded.

In Damascus, Syrian state television reported an operation carried out by the "American occupation forces" in which a person was killed, but no further details were provided.

The US forces and the international coalition forces led by Washington launch raids or airdrops from time to time against suspected members of ISIS.

Since 2014, the international coalition in Iraq and Syria has been waging a campaign against the Islamic State, which culminated in March 2019 with the announcement by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, led by Kurdish fighters, to eliminate the organization after the end of the last battles against it in the village of Al-Baghuz bordering Iraq.

After the elimination of the organization in Syria, its fighters sought refuge mainly in the Syrian desert, which extends between the governorates of Homs (central) and Deir ez-Zor on the border with Iraq, and many are hiding in different villages and regions.

The American forces announced their success in several operations, most notably the operations in which the leaders of the “Islamic State” organization, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were killed in October 2019 and then Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi last February in their hideouts in Idlib Governorate (northwest), and then in July, where Washington announced that it had killed the leader of the organization in Syria, Maher Al-Akal, in a strike carried out by a drone.