Special ops mission in Syria was bigger than bin Laden raid

ABC News:

A large contingent of American special operations forces was able to sneak into an ISIS camp near the terror group’s stronghold in Syria in search of American hostages, but quickly withdrew when it became clear that while 100 or so armed terrorists were there, the hostages weren’t, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the then-secret mission.

The official provided ABC News with new, dramatic details of the raid earlier this summer to grab Americans including journalist James Foley, a mission that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagelsaid today was “flawless” except that no one was rescued.
...

The U.S. official familiar with the operation agreed that the mission, at least from a military perspective, was “magic.”

When the “unusually large” U.S. special mission unit – described by senior officials as “several dozen” warfighters -- arrived at the location near Raqqah, Syria where they believed the hostages were being held, they had little time “on station” because of the distance they had to fly from their launch base.

A senior administration official said Wednesday that “while on site it became apparent the hostages were not there.” But around 100 ISIS fighters were there, said the U.S. official familiar with the incident, and the American forces engaged in a fierce firefight. An Air Force AC-130 gunship came in overhead and put down fire on other ISIS fighters, keeping the bulk of the extremist force from the fight.

The Americans killed a number of ISIS fighters – at least 15, according to the U.S. official – before scrambling back to their helicopters and flying away.

The official said that some in the military and intelligence circles believe they missed the hostages by less than a week.
...

Critics of the administration say the failure was caused by Obama's slowness in giving the order to make the rescue attempt.  More details on the makeup of the force are here.  The special ops forces manage a firefight with a larger ISIL force and manage to inflict significant casulaties on the Islamic religious bigot force.