The Commanding Officer of the Special Air Service was targeted by military police following the legitimate killing of an ISIS terrorist, the Mail can reveal.
The ‘CO’ was interviewed under caution and accused of covering up the ‘murder’ of a jihadist – when, in fact, he had acted appropriately.
The Lieutenant Colonel was one of three SAS commanders hounded by police following the shooting in Syria in 2022, causing uproar in its ranks.
A five-man SAS team under his command had risked their lives to eliminate the terrorist who had vowed in a chilling propaganda video to blow up infidels.
After the incident, the CO and two senior colleagues signed-off the SAS team’s account of the shooting as accurate and proportionate.
But another senior officer, who previously commanded the SAS’s fierce rivals the Special Boat Service (SBS), disapproved.
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins’ intervention led to the five-man SAS team and the SAS officers being subjected to military police investigations.
SAS soldiers legitimately engaged an ISIS terrorist is Syria yet they and their Commanding Officer were hounded by military police and accused of 'covering up' an Extra-Judicial Killing.
Acting in his capacity as Director Special Forces, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins overruled the SAS Commanding Officer over the Syria shooting resulting in a three-year criminal investigation.
Officers from the Royal Military Police's Special Investigation Branch interviewed under caution the SAS Commanding Officer, a squadron commander and the regiment's Chief of Staff over the shooting of an ISIS terrorist, triggering a furious reaction within the SAS.
His decision triggered a furious reaction at SAS headquarters in Hereford, where staff rallied around the accused.
Troops believed Sir Gwyn had been influenced by increased media scrutiny of Special Forces operations and was putting his career first.
The probe into the SAS officers, codenamed Operation Tanglement 2, is reported for the first time today.
At the time Sir Gwyn was serving as Director Special Forces, responsible for SAS and SBS missions around the world.
His intervention came as United Kingdom Special Forces were being investigated by the BBC’s Panorama over counter-terrorist operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, Sir Gwyn is the First Sea Lord, the Royal Navy’s most senior officer.
Details of Operation Tanglement 2 have emerged as the SAS continues to fight legal battles on many fronts.
Labour’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which was voted through the House of Commons this week, paves the way for Republicans to force inquests into SAS operations as far back as the 1980s.
According to senior sources, those challenges to its reputation are causing senior soldiers to quit the SAS in disgust – and to question their role in operations imperative for national security.
The sword of Damocles hanging over the CO, the regiment’s Chief of Staff and a SAS squadron commander, was only lifted last year.
Belatedly, they and the SAS soldiers who deployed to Syria were cleared of any wrongdoing. By then much of the damage to their careers, and the morale of the regiment, had already been inflicted.
When interviewed, the soldiers were accused of excessive force. Supposedly, in the dead of night on the battlefield, they should have attempted to arrest the ISIS commander.
Last night, former SAS CO Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams said: ‘From the outside this appears to be yet another unnecessary and mishandled military police investigation initiated not because of serious concerns, but merely as a self-serving public relations exercise by London-based and distant headquarters staff, miles from combat.
‘The intervention appears to have been designed to demonstrate an enhanced, but highly performative, degree of ‘transparency and control to a Panorama-triggered Whitehall and in ways that understandably undermine SAS confidence in an increasingly politicised chain of command. It looks and sounds like utter nonsense to me.’
Then, in June 2025, the Mail revealed how the cases against the soldiers had been dropped.
The investigation focused on whether the soldiers had used excessive force to eliminate the ISIS terrorist. That probe included counting rounds fired on the night on the battlefield.
The soldiers argued their actions had been appropriate because the target was a suspected suicide bomber who could have been wearing a hidden device.
The soldiers were arrested in Syria and were flown back to the UK to be interviewed. They then returned to the warzone. They were fingerprinted and DNA samples were taken.
Finally, in May 2025 they received notices of non-direction saying the cases were being closed.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has written to the Royal Military Police instructing its officers to consider concerns raised by their cases.
An MOD spokesperson said: 'Our personnel are respected worldwide for their professionalism and dedication, and they make extraordinary sacrifices in defence of the nation.
'Allegations of wrongdoing are considered through the appropriate independent investigative and legal processes. Where allegations arise, it is right that they are properly assessed and investigated.'