According to a senior U.S. defense official, a senior Hezbollah commander who assisted in organizing one of the most audacious and complex strikes against American troops during the Iraq War was killed in a recent Israeli bombing in Syria.
After the 2007 attack in which militants masquerading as an American security squad killed five U.S. soldiers, U.S. forces seized Ali Mussa Daqduq. Later, however, the Iraqi authorities freed him.
There were few details available about the Israeli airstrike. According to the senior defense official, it was not immediately apparent when the strike occurred, where in Syria it occurred, or whether Daqduq was the precise target.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by a Pentagon official. Questions were sent to the Israeli military by the embassy, but they did not immediately reply.
On January 20, 2007, the complicated raid that Daqduq assisted in planning was executed at a U.S.-Iraqi military facility near Karbala. Wearing American military combat fatigues, carrying American weapons, and some of them speaking English, a group of men dressed as an American military security squad persuaded security to allow them to pass past multiple checkpoints and all the way up to a building where Iraqi and American personnel were operating.
The building was one of several complexes in Iraq known as Joint Security Stations, where American forces resided and collaborated with Iraqi soldiers and police. When the militants struck, there were about two dozen American soldiers in the Provisional Joint Coordination Center, or PJCC, including a few in the barracks room where they were billeted.
The militants surrounded the building and broke through the entrance with explosives and grenades. A grenade killed one American soldier. After entering the building, the militants took two American soldiers inside and two outside before rushing out in SUVs that were waiting for them.
The militants fled from their cars and fled on foot as U.S. attack helicopters drew up to the caravan. At some point during the escape, they shot and killed the four American prisoners.
The four troops who were shot by their captors were Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism, 22, Pfc. Shawn Patrick Falter, 25, Capt. Brian Scott Freeman, 31, and 1st Lt. Jacob Noel Fritz, 25. Pfc. Jonathan Miles Millican, 22, was the soldier killed by the grenade in the complex.
Given the degree of organization, training, and intelligence needed to execute the attack, U.S. authorities thought the terrorists had direct Iranian help in the aftermath.
After seizing Daqduq in March 2007, U.S. forces quickly made progress in proving that the Quds Force, a top-tier division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, was responsible for organizing the Karbala operation. When questioned, Daqduq claimed that the Quds Force’s direct assistance and training were the reason behind the operation.
After being detained by the U.S. military in Iraq for a number of years, Daqduq was turned over to Iraqi authorities in December 2011, marking the conclusion of the U.S. military mission. Before American forces left the nation, he was the final prisoner to be released.
After the Iraqis promised to pursue Daqduq, he was freed a few months later, which infuriated American politicians and bureaucrats. According to the senior U.S. defense official, Daqduq was soon once again in charge of Hezbollah fighters.
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