As we already published earlier today, United States Special Operations Forces have killed a senior ISIS official commander, Abu Sayyaf, during a covert operation inside of Syrian borders.

According to the official press release by DoD, the Delta Force reportedly tried to capture Abu Sayyaf, but he was resisting and died in gunfight. They managed to capture the commander’s wife during the raid. The military operation was carried out by United States forces at the authorization of President Barrack Obama. The Delta Force team entered Syria via Blackhawk helicopters and Osprey aircraft. According to statements made by defense officials, US personnel were forced to engage in hand to hand combat after landing at a multi-story building where the raid took place.

According to the White House statement and DoD reports, at least 12 ISIS fighters were killed during the raid. American forces suffered no casualties despite high resistance.

Abu Sayyaf was reportedly in charge of oil and gas operations for the terror group. The sale of oil and gas is one of the reasons ISIS (IS, also known as Islamic State) has been able to amass such a large fortune so quickly. With top ISIS leadership in question, it was believed Abu Sayyaf was becoming more and more involved with day to day operations and may have been in line to become one of the top commanders in the organization.

In last few months, ISIS suffered major strikes on their leadership. Their leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was badly wounded in airstrike during March, and by unconfirmed reports is currently not able to lead ISIS. Three days before  it was announced that the “number two” man and interim leader of ISIS, Abu Alaa al-Afri, was killed during a coalition airstrike.

Some have speculated that al-Afri was in the process of preparing to take over leadership of ISIS as the current leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is allegedly injured. It is believed that al-Afri was originally passed over for the leadership position because his family did not have as strong of historical ties to the prophet Muhammed as al-Baghdadi’s family.

Akram Qirbash, another top ISIS commander, was also killed during the strike, but despite this major strikes on leadership, ISIS began a new offensive on Anbar province.