Some sort of massive US-coalition air-raid/ground operation happening in NW Syria right now:
https://twitter.com/NotWoofers/status/1488999888507523078
Something like this does not happen often. There are only a few possibilities... Targeting of a senior ISIS or Al Qaeda official or hostage rescue.
Massive firefight and unconfirmed reports of coalition casualties.
https://twitter.com/tommycats4/status/1489020715265372160?s=20&t=mS7to2q5Yfjxy-88vkuCvQ
Not sure what's going on here but they have been on the ground for approaching 2 hours and there is a heavy firefight.
Multiple reports that the aircraft have left now, more than 2 hours after the raid behind. Highly unusual and I suspect we'll be seeing news about this in the coming hours.
Brutal. Something went horribly wrong.
https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1489056106768916480
How are we classifying this as successful when children died?
https://twitter.com/lmartinezabc/status/1489111016768159745
Wow NYT saying the raid may have been for Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri himself. NatSec contacts definitely have the feeling that this was an extraordinary raid only approved under a very select set of circumstances. nyti.ms/3oh4Gn6
“The White House was abuzz on Wednesday night about something secretive afoot, and Pentagon officials were unusually tight-lipped about the mission’s details.”
Zawahiri being in Syria doesn’t really make much sense, but stranger things have happened. It’s clear that this raid wasn’t for some local ISIS commander.
One early thought was that perhaps this was a high stakes hostage rescue (Austin Tice?) but as the hours tick by, that seems more unlikely. Tice has been held for over 10 years, if he remains alive.
BREAKING: Biden to speak about the raid Thursday morning wsj.com/articles/u-s-s…
The current leader of ISIS is Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Great profile here newlinesmag.com/reportage/a-ca…
From the updated NYT article. Doesn’t sound like the “or capture” option worked out… 
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