Watch the joint U.S. Delta Force-Kurdish raid to rescue Islamic State hostages
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A video first posted by Rudaw, a Kurdish news site, purportedly shows footage of the joint U.S.-Kurdish raid that freed about 70 hostages from an Islamic State prison in northern Iraq early Thursday morning. The raid was led by Kurdish Peshmerga special forces and supported by elite U.S. Delta Force soldiers.
According to Rudaw and U.S. officials, at least 30 U.S. soldiers participated in the raid along with more than 40 Kurdish commandos. U.S. troops were initially supposed to only provide air support, helicopter lift capabilities and an advisory role but were drawn into the fight when Kurdish forces began suffering casualties.
From the Department of Defense Press release: “U.S. Special Forces supported an Iraqi peshmerga operation earlier today to rescue about 70 hostages from an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant prison near Hawijah, Iraq.
American Special Forces personnel carried out the planned operation at the request of the Kurdistan regional government after learning through intelligence sources that the hostages faced imminent mass execution.”
The press release added that “One U.S. service member and four peshmerga soldiers were wounded when ISIL extremists fired on U.S. and Iraqi forces during the rescue.” The U.S. service member was medically treated but later died.
Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter told reporters on Friday to expect more raids in the coming months as the U.S. mission to “deliver a lasting defeat” to the Islamic State continues to evolve.
