A joint military operation by US forces and a local Syrian group recently resulted in the tragic death of an individual believed to be an undercover intelligence agent, not the targeted Islamic State (IS) militant. The family of Khaled al-Masoud, along with Syrian officials, revealed to The Associated Press that al-Masoud was killed on October 19 during a raid in Dumayr, a town situated east of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The Ill-Fated Operation
According to relatives, al-Masoud had dedicated years to gathering intelligence on IS. Initially, he worked for insurgent forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, and later served al-Sharaa’s interim government, established in January following the December 2024 ousting of then-President Bashar al-Assad. Local residents corroborated that US troops conducted the raid alongside the Syrian Free Army (SFA), an opposition faction trained by the US that formerly opposed Assad and now operates under the Syrian Defense Ministry.
Residents of Dumayr recounted the events of October 19, beginning around 3 AM. Heavy vehicles and aircraft disrupted the early morning quiet. Abdel Kareem Masoud, Khaled al-Masoud’s cousin, described opening his door to be confronted by Humvees displaying American flags. He recounted an individual, speaking in broken Arabic, pointing a machine gun with a green laser and ordering them back inside their homes.
A Family's Grievance
Khaled al-Masoud’s mother, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, alleged that the forces subsequently surrounded her son’s adjacent house, where he resided with his wife and five daughters. Despite al-Masoud reportedly identifying himself as working with General Security, an Interior Ministry force, he was allegedly shot. She claims he was then taken away while wounded.
Later, government security officials informed the family that al-Masoud had been released and hospitalized, only to call them subsequently to collect his body. The precise time and cause of his death remain shrouded in mystery. "How did he die? We don’t know. I want the people who took him from his children to be held accountable," his mother vehemently stated. The family is convinced that faulty intelligence, likely supplied by SFA members, led to al-Masoud being mistakenly targeted.
Background of an Undercover Agent
Before the fall of Assad, al-Masoud had collaborated with Ahmed al-Sharaa’s insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, within its Idlib stronghold, according to his cousin. Upon his return to Dumayr, he assumed a role within the security apparatus of al-Sharaa’s interim government.
Following the operation, initial media reports inaccurately claimed the capture of an "IS official." However, the US Central Command, which typically issues statements on operations involving IS members in Syria, remained conspicuously silent regarding this particular incident.
Currently, fewer than 1,000 US troops are estimated to be deployed in Syria, conducting airstrikes and ground raids against IS cells. These forces primarily collaborate with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast and the SFA in the south. This incident casts a grim shadow on intelligence gathering and military operations in the complex Syrian landscape.