President Joe Biden announced Thursday that ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria on Wednesday.
It was the largest US raid in the country since the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019.
The explosion led to multiple civilian casualties, though the Biden administration and a Syrian civil defense group disagree on how many were killed. According to Biden administration officials, Qurayshi blew himself up as US forces approached his compound. According to the Pentagon, no US casualties were reported.
Biden announced from the White House Thursday morning that the operation had taken “a major terrorist leader off the battlefield.” The US had chosen to use special forces in the operation to minimize civilian casualties.
US says suicide bomb killed ISIS leader
ISIS announced Qurashi as its leader in November 2019 at the same time it confirmed al-Baghdadi’s death.
In the aftermath of the raid, the Pentagon will conduct a more thorough analysis. According to a senior administration official, the terrorist target detonated a bomb at the beginning of the operation, killing him and his family. We are still evaluating the results of this operation, but this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation to eliminate Baghdadi, the official said.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said Qurayshi’s death “delivers a devastating blow to ISIS and demonstrates the US’s commitment to eliminating terrorist threats. Five combatants and four civilians were killed during the raid, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday. Ten people were able to be evacuated from the first and second floors of the building by the US special forces, Kirby said.
White Helmets, however, reported that 13 people were killed, including six children and four women. It is unclear why the Pentagon and the White Helmets provide such widely divergent numbers.
At the end of the operation, Qurayshi, his deputy, his deputy’s wife, and two others outside the compound exchanged fire with US troops.
Today’s operation was the largest raid in the province since 2019
without any US casualties. A statement from Kirby said that more information would be forthcoming as it became available. According to AP, the operation was conducted near the Turkish border for nearly two hours. Residents told AP that it was a major residential area for internally displaced people of the Syrian civil war. Other residents, on condition of anonymity, said they saw body parts of several people scattered near the site of the raid.
According to Reuters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike killed nine people, including two children and a woman. According to the news agency, a local journalist who visited the raid site found at least 12 bodies. Today’s operation was the biggest in the province since the 2019 US assault on the Islamic State’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Also Check:
Asian Tiger to Have Better Protection in Thailand’s Parks