A recent Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a senior Hezbollah commander who was involved in planning one of the deadliest attacks against US troops during the Iraq war, according to a senior US defense official.

As NBC reports, Ali Mussa Daqduq was captured by US forces after the 2007 raid in which militants posing as a US security group killed five US soldiers. He was later released by the Iraqi government.

Details of the Israeli airstrike were not released. It was not clear when the strike took place, in what area of ​​Syria or whether it specifically targeted Daqduq, the senior official said.

A Pentagon spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. At the same time, the Israeli embassy referred questions to its army, which did not respond.

How the American team was attacked

The elaborate raid plan that Daqduq assisted in was carried out on a US-Iraqi military base in Karbala on January 20, 2007. A group of men posing as a group of US soldiers, who wore US military uniforms, carried US weapons and some spoke English – convinced security to let them go through several checkpoints, arriving at a building where they worked American and Iraqi troops.

The facility was part of a series of compounds known as Joint Security Posts in Iraq, where US troops lived and worked with Iraqi police and soldiers. More than two dozen U.S. soldiers were at the Interim Joint Coordination Center, or PJCC, when the fighters arrived, while several were in the barracks room where the troops lived.

The militants surrounded the building, using grenades and explosives to breach the entrance. An American soldier was killed by a grenade. Once inside, the militants arrested two US soldiers inside the building and two more outside the building, before speeding away in a waiting SUV.

US helicopters approached the vehicle, forcing the gunmen to get out of their vehicles and continue on foot. They shot and killed the four American POWs at some point during the escape.

In the wake of the attack, US officials suspected that the militants had direct support from Iran, given the level of coordination, training and intelligence required to carry it out.

US forces arrested Daqduq in March 2007 and revealed that Iran’s Quds Force, an elite unit of the country’s Revolutionary Guard, was involved in planning the Karbala raid. Under questioning, Daqduq said the operation was carried out under the direct support and training of the Quds Force.

Daqduq was held by the US military in Iraq for several years, but then surrendered to Iraqi authorities in December 2011, when the US military mission ended. He was the last prisoner to surrender before American troops withdrew from the country.

Iraqis assured US officials they would prosecute Daqduq, but within months he was released, sparking outrage. Daqduq soon led Hezbollah fighters once again, the senior US defense official said.