- US special forces carried out a raid deep in govt-controlled territory in Syria
- The operation killed one person in Syria's northeast
- The victim is believed to be Rakan Abu Hayel, who is accused of killing an American officer in an ISIS controlled area
- Officials say he was responsible for coordinating sleeper cells
- Several other people were captured by US forces in the raid, reports state
- A top ISIS leader accused of killing an American officer was shot dead by US special forces in a midnight raid deep in the heart of government controlled-territory in Syria.
Local sources said that US troops landed in the village Muluk Saray in the countryside of the Qamishli region in northeast Syria, where territory is controlled in part by US-backed Kurdish fighters and partly by the Russia-backed government.
They told news channel Al Mayadeen that the victim was named Rakan Abu Hayel, originally from the village of Tuwaimin in the eastern countryside.
He is accused of killing an American officer in an ISIS-controlled area, according to local NBC producer Mahmoud Shikhibra.
The family of the slain man and members of another family were arrested and taken into US custody, local sources claim, with some saying that at least two of those captured were part of a pro-Assad militia — though that remains unconfirmed.
Security officials later told Reuters that the man killed was 'a key IS leader present' responsible for coordination among the ISIS sleeper cells in the area.
The unnamed source added: 'This operation aims to expand the scope of targeting this organization's members across different parts of Syria.'
More information about the raid is expected to be provided in the coming hours, Central Command officials told DailyMail.com.
Unnamed sources originally told Syrian news channel Al Mayadeen that US occupation forces 'carried out a landing operation using several helicopters in the village of Muluk Saray, in the southern countryside of Qamishli, and killed one person.'
But a local village resident had said the victim was Hayel, a little-known displaced person from Hassakeh.
They said he had recently moved to Muluk Saray from Taif, a town near the border with Iraq that was once an ISIS stronghold.
'People thought he was a shepherd - no one knows his true identity,' the source said.
The resident also said that three US helicopters carrying troops had landed in the overnight operation near the Turkish border.
'They used loudspeakers to call on residents to stay indoors' during the operation,' the resident said.
He added that the operation lasted several hours, and there was no exchange of gunfire with American troops.
A US special forces raid in three helicopters reportedly ventured deep into government-controlled territory in Syria to conduct a raid against an alleged ISIS commander, resulting in his death and the detention of his family (pictured: Stock image of a Black Hawk helicopter)