Pentagon Rebuts Reports Of US-Led Coalition Evacuating IS Leaders From Syria's Deir Ez-Zor

The Pentagon on Monday refuted reports alleging that the US-led coalition carried out an air operation in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor to evacuate the leaders of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia).

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2018) The Pentagon on Monday refuted reports alleging that the US-led coalition carried out an air operation in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor to evacuate the leaders of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia).

On Saturday, the Syrian Arab news Agency (SANA) reported that the terrorists were transferred by the coalition's helicopters from the settlement of Al-Marashidah, located in the western part of the province, to an unknown location.

"The 77-member coalition remains focused on destroying the remnants of ISIS [IS] in Syria and achieving its lasting defeat globally, not transporting them. As long as ISIS remains a threat, and even one ISIS fighter is one too many," Pentagon spokesperson Lt.

Col. Kone Faulkner told Sputnik.

In December 2017, media reported that the Syrian authorities had sent a letter to the United Nations, stating that the coalition was striking deals with the Islamic State group as well as coordinating its actions with the terrorists to help them relocate to other regions.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 countries is conducting military operations against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The coalition's operations in Iraq are conducted in cooperation with the Iraqi government, but those in Syria are neither authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad nor by the UN Security Council.