Last updated: Tuesday Jul 12 2022 KSA 18:12 – GMT 15:12
Publication date: Tuesday Jul 12 2022 KSA 16:19 – GMT 13:19
Source: Hadath.net
The US Department of Defense announced the killing of an ISIS leader ISIS in SyriaTuesday, with a strike carried out by an American drone.
A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Central Command, Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn, told AFP that Maher al-Aqal, described by the Pentagon as “one of the five most prominent leaders in ISIS”, was killed while on a motorbike near Jindires in the Afrin countryside northwest of Aleppo. One of his top aides was seriously injured.
extensive planning
The US Central Command also said in a statement that “this operation was extensively planned to ensure its successful implementation,” noting that “a preliminary review indicates that there were no civilian casualties.”
It also clarified that Al-Aqal was responsible for developing ISIS networks outside Iraq and Syria, according to Archyde.com.
In this context, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath that “the killing of Maher Al-Aqal is a qualitative and strong blow to ISIS.”
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi blew himself up
It is reported that this strike came 5 months following the bombing Abu Ibrahim Al Hashimi Al QurashiThe leader of the “ISIS” organization at the time, himself during an American landing operation in Syria.
US President Joe Biden announced at the time that his country had “removed a major terrorist threat” with the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, who blew himself up during a landing operation carried out by an American commando unit at dawn on February 3 on a house in Syria where he was staying with his family.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (file photo from AFP)
In a televised speech from the White House, he said that the United States had “removed a major terrorist threat in the world” with this operation carried out by a unit of the US Special Forces in the town of Atma in the Idlib region in northwestern Syria, which constituted the biggest setback for the terrorist organization since the killing of its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on October 27. 2019 in a similar US operation in the Idlib region as well.
‘A last desperate act of cowardice’
He also added, “While our soldiers were approaching to arrest him, the terrorist chose, in a last desperate act of cowardice, and without any regard for the lives of his family or others in the building, to blow himself up…instead of facing justice for the crimes he committed,” noting that Al-Qurashi By blowing himself up, he “took many members of his family with him, as did his predecessor.”
It is noteworthy that the killing of Maher al-Aqal deals another blow to ISIS’ efforts to reorganize itself following losing large areas of land.
