By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
The Pentagon welcomed the death of killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza – but made it clear that US forces were not directly involved in his death.
It was announced Thursday that Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces during a patrol in the Gazan city of Rafah. Troops were searching for Hamas members when, thanks to a drone that flew into a half-destroyed building, they discovered a man sitting in a chair who threw what appeared to be debris at the drone. Minutes later, Israeli forces shelled the building.
Hours after that, Sinwar’s body was identified by DNA, dental and fingerprint records.
“This clearly a significant development and a major counterterrorism achievement,” said Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. “And so it does present an opportunity here for a ceasefire. It presents an opportunity for the release of all the remaining hostages and of course, we’ll continue to work toward that end.”
At a briefing for reporters, Ryder was asked if US special operations forces provided any intelligence that led to Sinwar’s killing.
“The short answer is no,” Ryder replied. “This was an Israeli operation. US forces were not directly involved. Again, as we’ve highlighted, we’ve had a small number of special operations forces that have been advising the Israelis on hostage recovery efforts.”
Ryder said that in a terrorist organization, the leader can be killed but can be quickly replaced. Still, “I don’t think you can discount the significance, again, from a counterterrorism standpoint, the role that Sinwar has played in leading this organization, also as the architect, so to speak, of the October 7th Hamas attack against Israel. It’s significant that he’s been taken off the battlefield.”
Meanwhile, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that the US is sending to Israel is “going to be fully operations capable in the near future,” Ryder said.
The billion-dollar weapons system will be used to help defend Israel against missile attacks from Iran and its allies such as Hezbollah. THAAD is already deployed in places such as South Korea, Guam and the United Arab Emirates.
About 100 US troops are being sent to Israel to operate the system. Ryder said both the troops and the system’s components have begun to arrive.
“I will say that it has been integrated into the Israeli air defense, as well as our broader US efforts regionally to support the defense of Israel,” he said.
