Samuel M. Katz - No Shadows in the Desert: Murder, Vengeance, and Espionage in the War Against ISIS

The inside story of the covert operation that took down the heads of ISIS

No Shadows in the Desert reveals the untold story of the behind-the-scenes fight against ISISone coordinated by heads of state and ultimately fought in the alleyways and open deserts of the Middle Eastern battlefield by spies and soldiers. Samuel M. Katz draws upon his sources within the global intelligence and counterterrorism community, as well as the international special operations and espionage fraternity, to tell the story of the covert campaign against ISIS by the operatives who ventured deeply and secretly into enemy territory.

In this first-ever look at the secret inner workings of an Arab secret service, Katz tells the story of Jordans GID, the masters of human intelligence on the espionage battlefields of the Middle East, who proved pivotal and crucial go-to allies of the CIA and Americas other intelligence agencies in the war against ISIS and the war on terror. With the revealing and intimate insight of the intelligence officers who fought ISIS, No Shadows in the Desert is a rare glimpse into how a strategic partnership helped change how terrorism is fought in the Middle East and beyond.

Praise for Samuel M. Katzs previous books

An intense, incredibly well-written tale of terrorism, treachery, and tradecraft.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor on Beirut Rules

Beirut Rules cant bring this quiet hero back to life. But it will show a new generation the value of a life well lived in service of country.

President George H. W. Bush

Heart-stopping, minute-by-minute detail A tale of valor on the ground.

Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair , on Under Fire

Tells the story of a Washington too blinded by politics to see the facts. A wonderful book.

Robert Baer, former CIA case officer and New York Times bestselling author of See No Evil , on Under Fire

This work by terrorist expert Katz is very descriptive, reading almost like a thriller such as John le Carrs The Little Drummer Girl .

Library Journal on The Hunt for the Engineer

Samuel M. Katz is an internationally recognized expert on Middle East security issues, international terrorism, and military special operations and counterterrorism. He has authored or coauthored over twenty books, including the New York Times bestseller Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi. Katz has written hundreds of articles for publications around the world, created several award-winning documentaries for television on the worlds top commando units, and was a founder and editor in chief of Special Operations Report, a quarterly magazine dedicated to military and law enforcement special operations and counterterrorism. He lives in New York.

SamuelKatzOnline.com

ALSO BY SAMUEL M. KATZ

The Ghost Warriors:
Inside Israels Undercover War Against Suicide Terrorism

Beirut Rules:
The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollahs War Against America (with Fred Burton)

Under Fire:
The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi (with Fred Burton)

NO SHADOWS IN THE DESERT

Murder, Vengeance, and Espionage in the War Against ISIS

Samuel M. Katz

This book is dedicated to the memory of Yves Debaya friend, colleague, soldier, adventurer and amazing combat photographerkilled by a snipers bullet in Syria

Contents

st SFOD-Delta: US Army 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, Delta Force counterterrorist unit

22 Special Air Service: British Army 22nd Special Air Service Regiment

AQI: al-Qaeda in Iraq

ASL: above sea level

CANSOFCOM: Canadian Special Operations Command

CENTCOM: US Department of Defense Central Command

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency

CJTF-OIR: Combined Joint Task ForceOperation Inherent Resolve

CAOC: Combined Air Operations Center (al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar)

CSAR: combat search and rescue

CTB-71: Jordans counterterrorist battalion

CTD: the General Intelligence Directorate Counterterrorism Division

Daesh: the colloquial and derogatory Arabic name for ISIL/ISIS (the Islamic State)

DEVGRU: Naval Special Warfare Development Group, SEAL Team SIX counterterrorist unit

DIA: Defense Intelligence Agency

DGSE: the Directorate-General for External Security, Frances international espionage service

ELINT: electronic intelligence

FSA: Free Syrian Army

GID: General Intelligence Department

GIGN: Groupe dintervention de la Gendarmerie nationale, Frances counterterrorism unit

HMMWV: High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, a Humvee

HUMINT: human intelligence

IED: improvised explosive device

ICRC: International Red Cross and Crescent Movement

ISIL/ISIS: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant / Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

JAF: Jordanian Armed Forces

JSOC: US Joint Special Operations Command

JTF-2: Canadas Joint Task Force 2 counterterrorist unit

MI6: Military Intelligence Section 6, the UKs foreign intelligence service; also known as SIS, or the Secret Intelligence Service

MIT: Mill stihbarat Teskilat, the Turkish national intelligence service

MRAP: Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armored vehicles

NSA: National Security Agency

PHOTINT: photo intelligence

RJAF: Royal Jordanian Air Force

RJSOCOM: Royal Jordanian Special Operations Command

ROEs: rules of engagement

SCIF: Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility

SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces

SIGINT: signal intelligence

TDY: temporary duty assignment

TTIC: CIA Terrorist Threat Integration Center

UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

USSOCOM: United States Special Operations Command

XO: executive officer, second-in-command

YPG: Peoples Protection Units, the Syrian Kurdish militia making up much of the Syrian Democratic Forces pro-Western militia

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his family slept soundly in their beds, protected by several handpicked gunmen who patrolled the grounds of the nondescript compound near the Turkish frontier in northern Syria where the self-proclaimed, so-called Caliph was hiding. The bodyguards did not have to be told that danger lurked in the darknessthe Ninjas, the local slang for the enemys special operations forces, preferred to launch their daring raids under the cover of a night sky. The sentries moved about cautiouslyavoiding areas near the main gate and the house that were booby-trapped with explosivesand they listened attentively to the winds that howled across the hilltops in order to dissect anything was out of the ordinary. They heard nothing, not even the forewarning of a mountain dog barking at the shadows. The night was silent, and the ISIS gunmen were determined to make it safely through to dawns first light and morning prayers.

But close to 100 operators from the U.S. Armys Combat Applications Group, one of the mysterious cover names for the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, along with elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment (Airborne) had already converged on the lair, concealed in stealth and the daring black of night. They had been flown to Barisha from a staging area in Iraq, near Erbil, inside the Kurdistan Regional Government, courtesy of eight helicoptersChinooks and Black Hawksfrom the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) known as the Night Stalkers, and their seventy-minute-long path in the darkness had been illuminated by the best type and most reliable form of actionable intelligencethe human kind. A source entrenched inside al-Baghdadis entourage had been turned and he provided accurate and up-to-date information on Baghdadis whereabouts and movements. The raid had been in the works for close to two weeks.