Syrians gather on the scene after a nighttime raid by US troops.
Atme, Syria:
US special forces launched a nighttime airstrike in northwestern Syria on Thursday, in which the head of the Islamic State group blew himself and his family up, the White House said.
The operation was the biggest blow to the jihadist organization since its predecessor, the more famous Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a similar raid in the same region of Idlib in 2019.
“Thanks to the skill and courage of our armed forces, we have taken Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the leader of ISIS, off the battlefield,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.
Speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a speech by Biden, a senior White House official said Qurashi detonated a bomb during the raid on the home he was staying in the city of Atme.
In doing so, he also killed members of his own family, including women and children, the official said.
Joe Biden said the head of ISIS was killed in a raid by US forces in Syria
Qurashi, an Iraqi from the Turkmen city of Tal Afar, also known as Amir Mohammed Said Abd al-Rahman al-Mawla, replaced Baghdadi after his death in a US raid in October 2019.
The US government had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Qurashi, one of the world’s most wanted men.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor had said that among the at least 13 people killed were civilians in the operation, which saw elite US troops make a dangerous helicopter landing near Atme.
“At least 13 people were killed during the operation, including four children and three women,” observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
rent paid
Initial reports following the operation near the town of Atme had suggested that the target may have been a senior jihadist close to IS’ rival group Al-Qaeda.
AFP correspondents were able to visit the house believed to be where Qurashi blew himself up.
Before the identity of the target of the robbery was revealed, the owner of the building where Qurashi was staying described his tenant living a normal life.
“This man has lived here for 11 months. I have not seen or noticed anything suspicious,” the landlord, who only mentioned his name as Abu Ahmad, told AFP.
“He would come to pay the rent and leave. He lived with his three children and his wife. His widowed sister and her daughter lived above them,” he said.
A witness told AFP that he was awakened by the sound of helicopters.
“Then we heard small explosions. Then we heard stronger explosions,” said Abu Ali, a displaced Syrian living in Atme, adding that US troops told residents “not to worry.”
“We only come to this house… to rid you of the terrorists,” the man quoted US troops as saying in their speaker messages.
The US helicopters have taken off from a military base in the Kurdish-controlled city of Kobani, Abdel Rahman said.
Elite, US-trained members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces joined the operation, he added.
Farhad Shami, head of the media bureau of the US-backed SDF, said the operation targeted “the most dangerous international terrorists”.
Kurdish forces had also participated in the attack on Baghdadi in 2019.
fierce battle
The two-story building of rough cinder blocks bore the scars of an intense battle, with cracked window frames, charred ceilings and a partially collapsed roof.
In some rooms, blood spattered high up on the walls and stained the floor, littered with foam mattresses and shards from smashed doors.
US special forces have conducted several operations against high-value jihadist targets in the Idlib area in recent months.
The last enclave actively opposing Bashar al-Assad’s government, the area is home to more than three million people and is dominated by jihadists.
The region is largely controlled by a body loyal to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group led by former members of what was once Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria.
Atme is home to a massive camp for families displaced by the decade-old conflict that experts have warned is being used by jihadists as a shelter between civilians.
On October 23, the US military announced the assassination of senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar.
“Al-Qaeda is using Syria as a safe haven to rebuild, coordinate with external affiliates and plan external operations,” said army major John Rigsbee, the spokesman for the central command.
Syrian government forces and their main military support, Russia, have carried out repeated attacks against jihadist and other rebel groups in the Idlib region.
However, a ceasefire signed nearly two years ago by Moscow and Ankara, the two main foreign powers in the area, is still officially in effect.
Assad has long maintained that his goal was to retake all of Syria, including the province of Idlib, but the contours of the jihadist-led enclave have remained largely unchanged since early 2020.
The death of the jihadist group’s top leader comes two weeks after the group launched a massive attack to free IS fighters from a Kurdish prison in northeastern Syria.
Hundreds of people were killed in what was IS’ most high-profile operation since the demise of its “caliphate” nearly three years earlier.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
