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>> well it's a huge blow in the sense that this was one of isis' kingpins in its racketeering money operations, oil smuggling and human trafficking. it's a huge tribute to the work of some of what the department of treasury, department of state and the cia have been doing of targeting the people who have been fuelling -- this is the guy who ran the money pipeline in part for isis. david cohen who was the assistant secretary of state for intelligence and recently became the deputy director of the cia, this would have been one of the people in his target. this is not a traditional target. this was the money guy. this was a find, including capturing anyone including his wife. >> what we're geting for the
eastern syria except through an occasional air strike. this was showing isis the u.s. has the intelligence -- and certainly with the special operations forces, the wherewithal to penetrate their best defenses and grab one of their top people. if nothing else this is a huge psychological victory for the u.s. psychological blow for isis. >> again for those just joining us, u.s. forces killing abu sayyaf, an isis leader who was intimately involved in the financing of that operation. also capturing his wife, umm sayyaf. we are told that she may potentially also have been critical in a role she made. where do you know where the wife is now? what's going to be happening to her now? >> well obviously she'll be taken -- she's in custody. she'll be secluded. she's not going to be mingled with any other prisoners that the u.s. iraq orther the coalition
last night it was carried out in eastern syria aimed at capturing a isis leader and his wife. it was supposed to be a snatch and grab. but during the raid he was killed. 12 other enemy fighters were also killed in this mission. no u.s. personnel were killed however. umm sayyaf was captured. u.s. forces freed a young yazidi woman who was being held as a slave. i was told by one official that umm sayyaf may have been involved in a human trafficking leader. he was involved in the military, but also had a senior role in overseaing isis' oil and gas operations. this is significant. i know you were honing in on this. i'm told it is significant because oil and gas is a key source of revenue. this is part of starving the
specifically isis put up flags in southwest of baghdad. they've been hitching with multiple e.i.d.s, improsized explosive devices. they've been going to central syria. palmyra. this is interesting. according to my sources very high up in the u.k. ministry of defense. u.k. and u.s. forces have been operating over a year. not just operating on the tactical side but also been training with the ypg. the kurdish rebels within syria and they've been also just sort of expanding the fight, if you like, with moderates not only engaged in the fight against isis but the syrian regime. >> does this point to then a more significant, i mean what
trying to shut down the financial operations. here we got the kingpin. too bad we didn't get him alive. this will not only take his knowledge off the battlefield, but it will send a further wave of shock and concern through the top leadership in isil. they're already under pressure. they can't operate with the freedom they operated with last year. and this puts more pressure on. this is the critical next step in breaking up the top leadership. >> all right. also some more information now coming in through the white house. our nbc's kristin wellker is lierve live. >> we're learning more about this operation according to a statement released by nsc sportscaster spokes person, president obama approved this. alexander
breaking news this hour that u.s. special forces have carried out a raid inside of syria. flying into eastern syria by helicopter to kill a top isis commander. the department of defense says he was involved in isis military matters. its finances and he helped direct the oil and gas operations. special forces xancapturing his wife. we have a report from the pentagon saying he was killed when he engaged u.s. forces as they tried to capture him in eastern syria last night and that u.s. forces managed to capture his wife. they say that she was -- suspect she's a member of isis and that she quote may have been complicit it what appears to
this is humira at work all right. breaking news this hour. that u.s. special forces have carried out a raid inside of syria flying into eastern syria to kill a top isis commander. that word is coming from the u.s. defense department. we are working to get more information on the story to find out what happened there. we will bring you all the additional details on that raid as they become available. again, that word breaking just this hour from the u.s. defense department over a raid carried out inside of syria. while we work on gathering more information, let's catch up on the headlines making news this morning. beginning with the many articles about the fallout since george stephanopoulos apologized for not disclosing donations to the
your fico score powered by experian. fico scores are used in 90% of credit decisions. u.s. special forces kill a top isis leader. all right. thanks for staying with us this busy saturday morning. a lot of breaking news here. amid word from the defense department u.s. special forces have performed a raid that killed a top isis leader named abu say yef. his wife was captured in the same raid. we'll go back to the white house for details on that. we're getting new reporting from richard engel. he reports this was a
the army delta force commandos descended on this isis compound in eastern syria in blockack hawk helicopters. they met heavy resistance is gun battle that went on. and delta force commandos killed at least a dozen isis fighters. this was a fight that actually involved hand to hand combat. that's how close they were in proximity inside that compound. in the battle, of course they killed abu sayyaf. isis oil and gas man. he's the guy who not only made the oil flow but the money flow into isis. this could be a serious, serious blow to isis financing. in the preponderanceocess they grabbed his wife. i asked why the wife. i was told the wife is a key principal player and a very important operative inside the isis organization. this battle was so intense, that
defense department it sounds like the intent was capture he and his wife. he engaged with u.s. forces and because of that, he was killed. given what you're telling us about how crucial he was, how integral he was to the isis, how much more value would there have been for the united states if they were able to take him alive? >> i think it would have been enormous. when you're taking on an entity like isis, of course there's the military dimension, you've got the foreign fighters who come to be recruited and the wham a mole problem of isis popping up in parts of syria, other parts of iraq. you've got the propaganda and media elements. the thing that's been important is to shut down their finances. these folks have made, you know $20 million $30 million a year in ransoms. upwards of, you know, who knows hundreds of million dollars in