U.S. hunts ISIS bosses in Syria with secret drone operation

The CIA and U.S. special forces are hunting terrorism suspects in Syria as part of a targeted killing program that is run separately from the broader U.S. military offensive against the Islamic State, U.S. officials said.

The CIA and the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command are both flying armed drones over Syria in a collaboration responsible for several recent strikes against senior Islamic State operatives, the officials said. Among those killed was a British militant who was using social media to incite attacks in the United States, the officials said.

The clandestine program represents a significant escalation of the CIA’s involvement in the war in Syria, enlisting the agency’s powerful Counterterrorism Center against a militant group that many officials believe has eclipsed al-Qaida as a threat.

But while the CTC has been given an expanded role in identifying and locating senior Islamic State figures, U.S. officials said that the strikes are being carried out exclusively by JSOC. The officials said the program is aimed at terrorism suspects deemed “high value targets.”

“These people are being identified and targeted through a separate effort,” said a senior U.S. official familiar with the operation, referring to the British militant, Junaid Hussain, and others killed in a recent weeks. Spokesmen for the CIA and U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees JSOC, declined to comment. Other officials would only discuss the program on condition of anonymity.

The decision to enlist the CIA and JSOC reflects rising anxiety among U.S. counterterrorism officials about the danger posed by the Islamic State, as well as frustration with the failure so far of conventional strikes to degrade the group’s strength.

Against that backdrop, the Obama administration has turned again to two of its preferred weapons against terror groups: the CTC, which pioneered the use of armed drones and led the search for Osama bin Laden, and JSOC, which includes the elite commando unit that carried out the raid that killed the alQaeda chief.

Unlike al-Qaeda, the Islamic State has extensive territory, a seemingly endless stream of recruits, and a deep roster of senior operatives.