SAS soldiers arrested over double murder while hunting ISIS terrorists faced 3-year probe while still on duty in Syria

FIVE SAS soldiers arrested over the murder of two teens in Syria spent three years under investigation but were still being deployed on active duty. The probe reportedly plunged the elite British unit into an “existential” crisis, with enrolment figures said to have rapidly dwindled after the men were left in limbo over their actions. The five men involved had been participating in a midnight mission to capture a senior ISIS cell leader in Deir el-Zor, Syria, in July 2022. During the high-stakes raid, the soldiers suddenly heard shots overhead as they pursued the target through a field. After coming face to face with two teenagers who refused to surrender, they shot the pair dead as they believed they were a credible threat. It later emerged that the boys had been working for ISIS and were jihadi terrorists. Read more News A probe was opened at the time as the men were accused of using “disproportionate force” due to the absence of weapons found by the bodies. This triggered a military police investigation, codenamed Operation Tanglement. On July 20, 2022, all five men were arrested on suspicion of double murder during raids on secret bases across Syria, Iraq and the UK. Despite the ongoing probe, all the men were released back into the war zone just 48 hours after being questioned. Most read in The Sun If convicted, they faced life in jail with the bleak threat looming over the men for three years. During that time, they were deployed on dozens of missions, including jumping out of helicopters to capture jihadist terrorists in the Syrian desert. One of the soldiers spoke of the mental toll of being treated like a “member of a criminal organisation” while parachuting behind enemy lines. All of the men have since left the military and had directly sent letters to former Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the supposed unlawfulness of their arrests. None of them received any response. One of them claimed the enquiry had an “existential” impact on the unit’s retention issues, with shrinking numbers posing a serious threat to Britain’s national security. Leaked documents, open-source data and witness accounts obtained by The Times shed light on the catastrophic fallout of the military’s most secret unit. The killings were initially handled internally and led to an SAS “shooting incident review”, backed up by the men’s witness statements. It found that they had acted in self-defence. However, the head of the Royal Navy Gwyn Jenkins – who was directing the special forces at the time – rejected the recommendation and referred the men to the Royal Military Police. At that point, local reports were circulating that the victims were in fact teenage civilians, prompting the Special Investigation Branch to launch a probe. Those working on the enquiry justified the arrests, claiming the men had used “disproportionate force”. They argued that the victims had been “unarmed at the time of their deaths and could not have posed an imminent threat to life”. The five men maintained their innocence in the face of these claims, insisting on their right to self-defence. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has so far refused to meet the soldiers or their lawyers to discuss the investigation. However, on Friday he instructed the RMP to review the “concerns raised” by the soldiers.