The Syrian authorities announced on Thursday that they have killed a prominent leader of ISIS in coordination with the international coalition in a "precise security operation" following the announcement of the arrest of another senior leader near the capital hours earlier.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that it carried out "a precise security operation in coordination with the international coalition forces in the town of Al-Buwaydah" in the countryside of Damascus, resulting in the death of "Mohammad Shehada, known as (Abu Omar Shaddad), one of the prominent leaders of ISIS in Syria."

According to the ministry, the operation "confirms the effectiveness of joint coordination between national security agencies and international partners."

Syria announced during President Ahmad Al-Sharaa's visit to Washington in November that it has officially joined the international coalition, which was established in 2014 under Washington's leadership to combat the extremist organization. This came after ISIS had seized vast territories in Iraq and Syria before being gradually defeated in both countries between 2017 and 2019.

The operation's announcement on Thursday followed hours after the ministry announced the arrest of "a leader of the ISIS terrorist organization in Damascus" in the town of Moadamyeh, near the capital, "in cooperation with the international coalition forces."

The authorities stated his name as Taha Al-Zoubi, known as "Abu Omar Tayyiba."

Syrian authorities occasionally announce security operations against cells affiliated with the organization, the most notable being on December 13 in the vicinity of the city of Palmyra (central), following the killing of three Americans, two soldiers, and an interpreter, in an attack attributed by Damascus and Washington to the organization.

On December 20, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a statement that "more than 70 targets were struck across central Syria" using fighter jets and helicopters, a week after the Palmyra attack.

Those strikes resulted in the death of five ISIS members, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights at the time.