The current leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, died on Thursday during a raid conducted by American special forces in Syria. Qurayshi detonated an explosive device that killed himself and several members of his family.
President Joe Biden announced that United States (US) military forces stationed in northwest Syria “successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place.” He noted there were no US casualties and “all Americans have returned safely from the operation.”
Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation. Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have been removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 3, 2022
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According to reports, about 50 US special forces landed near a compound in Atmeh where Qurayshi and his associates were believed to be hiding. Subsequently, an intense gunfight took place between the US forces and Qurayshi’s gunmen for almost two hours. The Associated Press reported that 13 people had been killed in the operation, including six children and four women.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that Biden preferred a direct raid on the compound to an airstrike to avoid large civilian casualties, “despite the additional risks that that decision put on our forces.” However, Kirby warned that “despite the death of Qurayshi, ISIS remains a threat.”
“The professionalism, skill and readiness of our troops — honed through relentless rehearsal — has dealt ISIS a severe blow and has helped make our country and our fellow citizens safer,” Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
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Qurayshi, who was also known as Hajji Abdullah, succeeded the notorious Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the leader of ISIS in 2019. Baghdadi had also detonated a bomb that killed him after US forces launched an operation to nab him. Biden noted that Qurayshi “oversaw the spread of ISIS-affiliated terrorist groups around the world after savaging communities and murdering innocents.”
“He was responsible for the recent brutal attack on a prison in northeast Syria holding ISIS fighters,” Biden noted, referring to ISIS militants launching an attack on the Ghwayran prison in Syria’s Al-Hasakah province earlier this month. The attack, which was ISIS’ biggest since 2019, killed over 200 SDF soldiers, 300 terrorists and several civilians.
Biden also said that Qurayshi was the “driving force behind the genocide of the Yazidi people” in Iraq in 2014. “We all remember the gut-wrenching stories: mass slaughters that wiped out entire villages, thousands of women and young girls sold into slavery, rape used as a weapon of war,” he added.
Free Yezidi Foundation statement on the death of #ISIS #Daesh leader Al-Qurayshi, aka Haji Abdullah. He was one of the architects of #Yezidi #Yazidi #YazidiGenocide, and among the worst human rights violators in the world. He needed to be stopped.https://t.co/xloZoQNa2n
— FreeYezidiFoundation (@Free_Yezidi) February 3, 2022
Thread. pic.twitter.com/2hCFrkNKOg
ISIS targeted the Yazidis in 2014 due to their religious beliefs and mass atrocities were committed against the community by the terrorist group. According to the United Nations (UN), ISIS murdered more than 5,000 Yazidis, abducted and enslaved almost 7,000 Yazidi women and children and evicted around 50,000 from their homes. Last year, the UN confirmed that it had found evidence of genocide committed against the Yazidis.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the success of the operation an “important milestone” in the campaign against ISIS. “Now the US and our partners in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS will continue the effort. Our goal is the enduring defeat of ISIS and that fight continues,” he added.