Four U.S. Service Members and one Military Working Dog were wounded by an explosion that occurred during a joint helicopter raid against an Islamic State compound in Der Ez-Zor, Syria.

The footage above is the last known kinetic action to be declassified and released by US Central Command in the Der Ez-Zor region of Syria. It shows a strike package being carried out against an Islamic State fighting position on August 24, 2022. We're using this footage to report on the fact that four American service members and one military working dog were wounded by an explosion during a joint raid against a compound of Islamic State fighters where prominent Islamic State leader Hamza al-Homsi was suspected of being at.

All five of the wounded are currently being treated for their injuries at an aid station in Iraq. No other SDF or other American forces were wounded in the raid, and no Islamic State fighters were located at the booby trapped compound. An ISIS assassination cell leader was killed in a similar raid at another target location in the region that same night, however no video or photographic evidence of the raid has been released yet.

It's important that we discuss topics like this. The general reaction I've seen to this type of news lately has been one of complete surprise. For some reason, Americans are under the impression that there are no American troops currently forward deployed conducting kinetic combat operations anywhere in the world. There seems to be a complete lack of understanding in the fact that we have troops forward deployed and actively supporting combat operations in Syria, Iraq, and the entire Horn of Africa. We may have pulled out of Afghanistan, but that does not mean that American troops are not still forward deployed.

If more video or photographic evidence of this raid is released, we'll be sure to update everyone with a new post. CENTCOM and the Department of Defense are obligated to release this footage through public domain channels as long as the footage is not sensitive or capable of compromising on-going operations. As they're already openly talking about this raid, I would suspect we should be seeing some form of redacted drone video released in the near future.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com