US Military Tried to Rescue Journalist and Other Hostages Held in Syria

Edgartown, Massachusetts: A secret nighttime military mission authorized by President Barack Obama to rescue Americans held captive in Syria failed early this summer when a team of two dozen Delta Force commandos raided an oil refinery in the northern part of the country but found after a firefight with Islamic militants that there were no hostages to be saved, officials said Wednesday.

The officials - speaking a day after Sunni militants posted a video showing US journalist James Foley being beheaded - described what they called a "complicated operation" in which the commandos were dropped to the ground by helicopter. After hitting the ground, the Army commandos fought with the militants as they sought to make their way to several hostages they thought were being held by members of the Islamic State group.

The officials said they believed a number of the terrorists were killed in the operation. But when the team swooped in, the hostages were gone. One of the commandos was slightly wounded in a skirmish that lasted several minutes before U.S. aircraft flew the soldiers to safety. At least one U.S. aircraft came under fire, but all members of the team were evacuated successfully.

"We're not sure why they were moved," a Defense Department official said of the hostages. "By the time we got there, it was too late."

The official said it may have been "a matter of hours, perhaps a day or two" since the hostages had been moved.

The administration officials revealed the mission in a conference call with reporters, in which they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the operation.

Two Defense Department officials, who also spoke separately on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the operation, expressed anger at the administration for revealing the mission. One of the officials said the aborted raid had alerted the militants to the Americans' desire and willingness to try to rescue the hostages, and, in the aftermath, had probably forced the captors to tighten their security.

But, the official said, the conference call Wednesday revealed new details in the timing of the operation that the Islamic State was not likely to have known.

"This only makes our job harder," the official said. "I'm very disappointed this was released. We knew any second operation would be a lot harder."

Lisa Monaco, the president's chief antiterrorism adviser, said in a statement Wednesday evening that Obama had made the decision to authorize the mission because intelligence officials feared for the lives of the hostages.

"The U.S. government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the president authorized the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens," Monaco said. "Unfortunately, that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present."

Monaco repeated a call for the immediate release of the hostages and said the failed rescue mission should stand as further evidence of the lengths the United States will go to protect its citizens.

"Their effort should serve as another signal to those who would do us harm that the United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to hold their captors accountable," she said.

Officials declined to say exactly how many hostages the commandos were trying to rescue or to provide the names of the people who they believed were being held captive by the militants.

The administration said the decision to release information about the rescue attempt was made as some news organizations prepared to reveal that the mission had taken place. The officials said they had kept the mission secret for a number of weeks in an attempt to "preserve future opportunities" to conduct another rescue operation.

US intelligence agencies had been collecting information on the suspected location of the hostages, including Foley, a Defense Department official said. It was unclear, however, whether Foley was among the hostages that the United States was trying to rescue at that location.

"It was a long-developing operation," a Defense Department official said. "They would move them periodically. But we decided to act then because we believed we had fidelity on their location, and we were well aware of the severity of the threats."

The mission was authorized by Obama after intelligence from a variety of sources suggested a location where the hostages were being held, officials said. They added that the breadth of the intelligence gave them confidence that to go ahead with the rescue. The mission was conducted by a joint force, officials said, that included members from all of the military services. The special operations troops, about two dozen of them, were dropped onto the ground by helicopters and were supported overhead by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, the officials said.

"We do believe there were a good number of ISIL casualties as a result of this operation," an official said, referring to the Islamic State.

Intelligence is not "an exact science," said the officials, describing a "layered procedure" in which the agencies built a picture of where they thought the hostages might be.

"It builds over time," one senior administration official said. "We never lost sight of the plight of these hostages."

The administration has kept in touch with the family members of the Americans during the years that they have been held captive and "consistently and regularly informed" them of the efforts to find the hostages, the officials said. Families have been informed of the latest rescue attempt, the officials said, but did not say when they were told.

Obama's decision to conduct the failed raid in Syria underscored the difficulty in dealing with terrorists who take hostages and make demands of governments. Officials said the president did not consider making ransom payments to the Syrian captors in an effort to get the hostages released.

"The United States government, as a matter of longstanding policy, does not grant concessions to hostage takers," one senior administration official said. "Doing so would only put more Americans at risk of being taken captive."