US Special Forces carried out a nighttime airborne raid Thursday in northwestern Syria during 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 organisation since his predecessor, the better-known Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a similar raid in the same region of Idlib in 2019.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi — the leader of ISIS,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.
A senior White House official speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an address by Biden said Qurashi detonated a bomb during the raid on the house where he was staying in the town of Atme. In doing so, he also killed members of his own family, including women and children, the official said.
Qurashi, an Iraqi from the Turkmen-majority city of Tal Afar who was 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, who was one of the world’s most wanted men.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor had said civilians were among at least 13 people killed in the operation, which saw elite US forces make a perilous helicopter landing near Atme.
“Thirteen people at least were killed, among them four children and three women, during the operation,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Initial reports that followed the operation near the town of Atme had suggested the target might have been a senior jihadist close to IS’ rival group Al-Qaeda. AFP correspondents were able to visit the house thought to be where Qurashi blew himself.
Before the identity of the raid’s target emerged, the owner of the building where Qurashi was staying described his tenant as leading an ordinary life. “This guy lived here for 11 months. I didn’t see anything suspicious or notice anything,” the landlord, who gave his name only as Abu Ahmad, told AFP.
“He would come and pay the rent and leave. He lived with his three children and his wife. His widowed sister and her daughter were living above them,” he said. A witness told AFP he woke to the sound of helicopters. “Then we heard small explosions. Then we heard stronger explosions,” Abu Ali, a displaced Syrian living in Atme said, adding that US forces told residents “not to worry”.
“We’re just coming to this house… to rid you of the terrorists,” the man quoted the US forces as saying in their loudspeaker messages.
The American helicopters took off from a military base in the Kurdish-controlled city of Kobani, Abdel Rahman said.
