Five SAS soldiers faced life‑imprisonment charges for the deaths of two teenagers in Al‑Zer, Syria, on July 3, 2022, but the military prosecutor’s office ruled no charges in May 2025.
The operation, part of Operation Shader, targeted an ISIS cell leader codenamed Bravo One; intelligence had tracked him for weeks, yet the plan collapsed when the soldiers believed they were under attack.
According to The Times, the two men shot were 17‑year‑old Muhammad Fateh Khalaf al‑Daham, who had fled to Turkey after his father was killed by gunmen, and a 14‑year‑old named Abdullah; neither carried a weapon at the time of the firefight.
The Royal Military Police opened a criminal inquiry, Operation Tanglement, on July 15, 2022, after Gwyn Jenkins, then director of special forces, referred the case; the soldiers had initially been cleared in a self‑defence review, but social media posts of civilian deaths prompted the formal probe.
While the investigation concluded without charges, the court noted the case remains open should new evidence emerge, a clause that keeps the future of the soldiers’ fate uncertain.