US special forces carry out secret ground raid against Isil in Syria, 'killing at least 25 jihadists' 

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Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic Forces as US Special Operations ride in the back

 of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa on May 25.

 US special forces carried out a secret raid in eastern Syria on Sunday, killing a number of fighters from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Commandos parachuted down from four helicopters around 2.30pm on Sunday, according to local activists.

They set up roadblocks around the town of al-Kubar, between the Isil-held cities of Deir Ezzor and the group’s de facto capital Raqqa.

At least 25 jihadists were killed in the two-hour operation, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
It is not yet clear what their target was, but some local activists suggested the raid may have been a hostage rescue attempt.

“Our information is that it was to rescue hostages, and that one of the Daesh (Isil) leaders went without force, so we believe that the arrests of members by coalition came by accident," an activist with the anti-Isil Sound and Picture organisation told The Telegraph.
“There is an important secret prison in the area. And we think there were westerners in it, but we don't have names because Isil put the area under siege after the landing."

US Central Command confirmed that "an operation was conducted in that area", but declined to give further details.
The US-led coalition has carried out only a handful of such raids in Syria and Iraq since joining the war against Isil.
In July 2014 Delta Force commandos attempted a rescue of American hostages held by Isil in a prison in Raqqa. However, they arrived too late and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid worker Kayla Mueller had been moved days earlier.

In March of last year special forces killed Isil’s “oil minister” Abu Sayyaf. They had intended to take the leader alive, but he was killed after attempting to fight back.
They did however manage to recover laptops and mobile phones which could provide an insight into Isil's oil-smuggling operations, which bring in vast wealth for the terrorist organisation.