US special operations forces killed a senior ISIL commander during an overnight raid deep in eastern Syria, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced on Saturday.

"Abu Sayyaf was involved in ISIL's military operations and helped direct the terrorist organization's illicit oil, gas, and financial operations as well," he said.

Sayyaf's wife, Umm Sayyaf, was captured during the firefight and is currently in military detention in Iraq, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement


Umm Sayyaf "played an important role in ISIL's terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement of a young Yezidi woman rescued last night," Carter said.

According to the NSC statement, the rare raid was authorized by President Obama upon the unanimous recommendation of his national security team.


"This operation was conducted with the full consent of Iraqi authorities and, like our existing airstrikes against ISIL in Syria, consistent with domestic and international law," Meehan said in the statement.

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Earlier this week, ISIS overran the provincial capital Ramadi in Iraq and started closing in on the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra , a UNESCO World Heritage site.