U.S.-Backed Raid in Dumayr Killed Undercover Informant, Family Says — Not an Islamic State Official

U.S.-Backed Raid in Dumayr Killed Undercover Informant, Family Says

Relatives and Syrian officials told The Associated Press that a joint operation by U.S. forces and a local Syrian faction on Oct. 19 in Dumayr, east of Damascus, killed Khaled al-Masoud — a man they say had been working undercover to gather intelligence on Islamic State (IS) cells, not an IS leader as initially reported.

What Relatives Say

Family members say al-Masoud had spent years infiltrating IS networks, first for insurgent forces aligned with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and later for al-Sharaa's interim government security services. According to his mother, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, forces surrounded his home in the early hours, forced entry and shot him despite his claim that he was serving with General Security, a unit under the Syrian Interior Ministry.

'How did he die? We don’t know,' al-Masoud's mother said. 'I want the people who took him from his children to be held accountable.'

Confusion and Coordination Concerns

Residents described heavy vehicles and aircraft in the town around 3 a.m. Witnesses said U.S. troops operated alongside fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a U.S.-trained opposition faction that now reportedly answers to Syria's Defense Ministry. Initial reports suggested the raid targeted or captured an IS official, but U.S. Central Command made no public announcement about a successful capture or strike in this case.

Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said the incident highlights the dangers of poor coordination between the coalition and Damascus and warned that such mistakes or misidentifications could be 'quite a setback' for counter-IS efforts in the region.

Official Responses and Ongoing Uncertainty

Neither U.S. nor Syrian government spokespeople publicly addressed the killing. A U.S. defense official said only that they were aware of the reports but had no information to provide. Syrian defense and interior ministry representatives declined to comment to media requests.

According to two Syrian security officials and a political official speaking on condition of anonymity, al-Masoud had been working with the interim government's security services and had been involved in anti-IS activity. The family, however, believes he may have been misidentified based on faulty or deliberately misleading information from local actors.

Broader Context

The raid underscores the complex security landscape in Syria as Washington begins working with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa against residual IS networks. U.S. forces in Syria remain limited in number and operate alongside local partners, including the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast and FSA elements in the south.

U.S. Central Command recently reported joint operations with Syria's Interior Ministry that located and destroyed 15 IS weapons caches in the south. Independent monitor Airwars has documented 52 incidents since 2020 in which civilians were harmed or killed in coalition operations in Syria and has classified al-Masoud as a civilian in its records.

It remains unclear whether the Oct. 19 operation resulted from erroneous intelligence, a faulty tip, or a deliberate effort by rivals to misuse coalition strikes. Observers say clearer lines of communication and better vetting of local information are essential to avoid further tragic errors.