NBC’s Engel: Counterterrorism Analysts ‘Had Never Heard of Aby Sayyaf’

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TODD: "Joining me now live is Richard Engel. And Richard, just how significant is Sayyaf? And can you say this was fully successful if we didn’t get him alive?
ENGEL: "A lot of counterterrorism analysts had never heard of Sayyaf, I personally had never heard of him before. One analyst we spoke to described him as like Al Capone’s accountant. Yes, he’s significant, he has a lot of information, no doubt. But he will be replaced. I think the most significant thing here was the symbolism, that U.S. Special Operations forces went into the ISIS heartland, grabbed someone, Sayyaf’s wife, killed other militants on the ground, and left successfully.

"It is a psychological blow, or an attempted psychological blow against ISIS. And I think that’s probably one of the most important missions here. Was it a complete success? They wanted to get him alive. They got his wife. But I think the idea of rattling ISIS by going into their heartland, that was successful."
TODD: "Well, is it fair to say that this was almost like a test case for U.S. intelligence, almost testing? They’re now getting better intelligence in Syria about ISIS, so they acted on this. It’s successful, so this means success will beget success and we’ll start seeing more raids because they now trust their Syrian intelligence?"
ENGEL: "Maybe, maybe. And I think once you put your toe into the water, there might be a temptation to put another toe in or the foot in. This is only the second time U.S. Special Operation forces have gone into Syria. The first time was a rescue attempt, to rescue hostages. That turned out to be what they call a “dry hole.” Nobody was there. The hostages had been moved.

This time, a snatch-and-grab operation, but the White House wants to be very careful about ordering up lots of these. Just imagine what would have happened if it had gone wrong, if one of those helicopters had been shot down. Terrible consequences for the commandos who were involved, but also terrible political consequences.
TODD: "That’s for sure. Richard Engel in Istanbul for us this morning."