U.S. Raid In Syria Targets ISIS Leader

06:01

May 19, 2015

In a May 14, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Last weekend, Army Delta Forces commandos took off from Iraq and slipped across the border into Syria. After touching down they came under fire and the battle escalated into hand-to-hand combat.

The fight eventually left about a dozen ISIS fighters dead, including a man known as Abu Sayyaf. He was the raid's target because he was an ISIS money man who helped spearhead the militant group's lucrative black market oil, gas and financial operations.

Derek Harvey tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson more about Sayyaf and why U.S. military personnel were put on the ground to attack and kill him.

Guest

Derek Harvey, retired Army colonel and director of the Global Initiative for Civil Society and Conflict at the University of South Florida. He tweets at @Harvey1021.

This segment aired on May 19, 2015.