According to a senior U.S. defense official, a senior Hezbollah commander who assisted in organizing one of the most audacious and advanced operations against American troops during the Iraq War was killed in a recent Israeli bombing in Syria.
Following the 2007 attack in which militants masquerading as an American security squad killed five U.S. soldiers, Ali Mussa Daqduq was apprehended by U.S. forces. The Iraqi authorities, however, later 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 from the Pentagon was not immediately answered. The Israeli military was questioned by the ambassador but did not immediately reply.
Daqduq assisted in planning the sophisticated raid, which was executed on January 20, 2007, at a U.S.-Iraqi military facility near Karbala. A group of individuals dressed as an American military security squad, carrying American weapons, wearing combat fatigues, and some of them speaking English, persuaded security to allow them to pass past many checkpoints and even up to a building where Iraqi and American forces 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 used explosives and grenades to break through the building’s entryway and surrounded it. A grenade killed one U.S. military member. After entering, the militants took two American soldiers inside the structure and two more outside before rushing out in SUVs that were waiting for them.
As the caravan was overtaken by U.S. attack helicopters, the militants fled from their trucks and fled on foot. The four American prisoners were shot and killed at some point during the escape.
First Lt. Jacob Noel Fritz, 25, Capt. Brian Scott Freeman, 31, Pfc. Shawn Patrick Falter, 25, and Spc. Jonathan Bryan Chism, 22, were the four troops who were shot by their captors. A 22-year-old Pfc. Jonathan Miles Millican was identified as the soldier killed by the grenade in the camp.
After the attack, U.S. officials concluded that Iran was directly supporting the militants because of the amount of intelligence, training, and coordination needed to execute the strike.
And after capturing, Daqduq in March 2007, American 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 stated 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.
In spite of the Iraqis’ promises to prosecute him, Daqduq was freed within months, which infuriated American politicians and bureaucrats. The top U.S. defense official said Daqduq was soon back in charge of Hezbollah fighters.
-James T. Abel Adesitimi (Deeprows News)
