UPDATED: 2:32 p.m.
AMMAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The leader of Islamic State died when he blew himself and family members up during a U.S. military raid in Syria, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, dealing a blow to the jihadist group’s efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had led Islamic State since the death in 2019 of its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was also killed when he detonated explosives during a raid by U.S. commandos.
As U.S. forces closed in on Quraishi in northwestern Syria overnight, he triggered a blast that also killed members of his own family, including children, according to Biden and U.S. officials.
The blast was so big it hurled bodies out of the three-storey building where Quraishi was and into surrounding streets in the town of Atmeh, U.S. officials said, blaming Islamic State for all civilian casualties.
“Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
Neither Biden nor U.S. officials briefing reporters gave a death toll, but Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 people were killed, including four women and six children.
Quraishi’s death is another setback for Islamic State nearly three years after its self-declared caliphate was dismantled and its fighters defeated by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Since then, Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has waged insurgent attacks in Iraq and Syria. The most recent was last month when its gunmen stormed a prison in northeastern Syria housing Islamic State suspects.
Quraishi, a 45-year-old Iraqi, had remained largely in the shadows since succeeding Baghdadi who led the group when it launched a lightning expansion in 2014 that shocked the world. It took control of large areas of Syria and Iraq, imposing strict Islamic rule over millions and inspiring attacks in the West.
Biden and U.S. officials described Quraishi as the “driving force” behind the 2014 genocide of minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, and said he oversaw a network of Islamic State branches from Africa to Afghanistan.
“Last night’s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield and has sent a strong message to terrorist around the world: We will come after you and find you,” Biden said.
The killing of Quraishi helps restore some of the Biden administration’s foreign policy credentials after it was widely criticized for last year’s chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
Residents in Atmeh, near the Syrian-Turkish border, said helicopters landed and heavy gunfire and explosions were heard during the raid that began around midnight. U.S. forces used loudspeakers to warn women and children to leave the area, they said.
The Pentagon said 10 people were evacuated from the raid area, including children. General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told the Washington-based Middle East Institute that all of them were “mobile and safe” and left at the scene when U.S. forces departed.
U.S. military procedures to guard against civilian casualties are under scrutiny following a high-profile mistaken drone strike in Afghanistan that the Pentagon initially hailed a success.
BODIES IN THE RUBBLE
A video taken by a resident and seen by Reuters showed the bodies of two apparently lifeless children and a man in the rubble of a building at the location.
Other footage showed rescue workers loading what appeared to be a small body wrapped in a white plastic sheet into an ambulance. Other body bags were in the back of the vehicle.
Using head torches, the workers looked for remains through chunks of concrete, children’s toys and women’s clothing in the wreckage. A kitchen was blackened and burned, windows hung from their frames and plastic utensils were half melted.
Reuters could not independently verify the images.
A Syrian man who witnessed the raid said he left his house after midnight and saw aircraft in the sky.
“Ten minutes later we heard screams. ‘Surrender, the house is surrounded,'” he said. “There was shelling from airplanes and machine guns.”
Another witness said he saw several bodies at the scene. “There was blood everywhere,” he told Reuters. He said one U.S. helicopter appeared to suffer a mechanical failure and was blown up by the U.S. forces.
Local leaders, security officials and residents in northern Iraq say Islamic State has been re-emerging as a deadly threat, aided by a lack of central control in many areas.
“Quraishi’s killing is a huge deal and a huge blow to ISIS because ISIS never heard from this new leader,” Syria analyst Hassan Hassan said. “I think ISIS will continue to be weak and under pressure as long as the Americans are on the ground in Iraq and Syria and involved, because the U.S. serves as feet on a spring: once you step off, it sort of bounces back.”
Quraishi was hiding out in a region of Syria that is home to several militant groups including an al Qaeda-affiliated faction whose leaders include foreign fighters.
U.S. forces have for years used drones to target jihadists in the area, but Thursday’s operation appeared to be the largest by U.S. forces in the northwest since the raid that killed al-Baghdadi, said Charles Lister, senior fellow with the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Beyond Quraishi, who was once held in U.S. custody, little is known of the group’s top levels – partly because it now operates in a secretive structure of autonomous local cells, rather than the centralised administration of the ‘caliphate’.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State said in mid-2019, after the group’s battlefield defeat, that it retained 14,000 to 18,000 members, including 3,000 foreigners, though precise numbers are as elusive as the group itself.
Analysts say many local fighters may have slipped back into normal life, ready to re-emerge when the opportunity emerges.
“This is an organisation that has retained a significant amount of manpower,” said Lister. “In terms of kinetically operating cells, I imagine we are talking in the very low thousands in both countries together. But it’s virtually impossible to measure.”
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi Nandita Bose; Additional reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut, Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt, Phil Stewart, Steve Holland and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk, Dominic Evans, Alistair Bell; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Daniel Wallis and Grant McCool)
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UPDATED: 11:14 a.m.
AMMAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The leader of the jihadist group Islamic State died in a U.S. special forces raid in northern Syria on Thursday when he detonated a bomb that killed him and family members, the U.S. administration said.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi had led the group since the death of its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was also killed when he detonated explosives during a U.S. raid in 2019.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have taken off the battlefield…the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Quraishi had remained largely in the shadows since succceeding Baghdadi who led the group at the height of its self-declared caliphate, when it controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq and ruled over millions of people.
Since its defeat on the battlefield nearly three years ago, the group has been waging insurgent attacks in Iraq and Syria.
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters Quraishi was killed in the raid.
“At the beginning of the operation the terrorist target exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children,” the official said.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby earlier described Thursday’s raid as a successful counter-terrorism mission, saying there were no U.S. casualties.
Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 people including six children and four women were killed by clashes and explosions that erupted after the raid began, targeting a house in the Atmeh area near the Turkish border.
U.S. military procedures to guard against civilian casualties are currently under scrutiny following a high-profile mistaken drone strike in Afghanistan that the Pentagon initially hailed a success.
A number of jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda operate in northwestern Syria, the last major bastion of rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad in the decade-long Syrian war. Leaders of the Islamic State group have also hidden out in the area.
Residents said helicopters landed and heavy gunfire and explosions were heard during the raid that began around midnight. U.S. forces used loud speakers to warn women and children to leave the area, they said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Humeyra Pamuk and Heather Timmons in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry and Dominic Evans; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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UPDATED 7:32 A.M.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said a U.S. special forces counter-terrorism raid in northwest Syria on Thursday targeted the leader of Islamic State, adding he would address the operation in remarks later on Thursday.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi – the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” Biden said in a statement, referring to the acronym by which the Sunni Islamist militant group is sometimes known.
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters al-Quraishi was killed in the raid.
“At the beginning of the operation the terrorist target exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children,” the administration official said.
After the killing of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019, the group named as his successor al-Quraishi, an Iraqi who was once held in U.S. custody.
“While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi,” the official said.
Biden planned to deliver remarks on the Syria operation at 9:30 a.m. ET/1430 GMT, the White House said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Chizu Nomiyama)
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ORIGINAL STORY:
AMMAN (Reuters) – U.S. special forces successfully carried out a counter-terrorism mission in northwest Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said, a raid which Syrian sources said was believed to have targeted an al Qaeda-linked jihadist.
Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 people including six children and four women were killed by clashes and explosions that erupted after the raid began, targeting a house in the Atmeh area near the Turkish border.
“U.S. Special Operations forces under the control of U.S. Central Command conducted a counter-terrorism mission this evening in northwest Syria. The mission was successful,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.
“There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
He did not identify the target.
A number of jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda operate in northwestern Syria, the last major bastion of rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad in the decade-long Syrian war. Leaders of the Islamic State group have also hidden out in the area.
Several rebel sources said they were almost certain the target was a leading jihadist, but could not be sure who.
Residents said helicopters landed and heavy gunfire and explosions were heard during the raid that began around midnight. U.S. forces used loud speakers to warn women and children to leave the area, they said.
A video taken by a resident and seen by Reuters showed the bodies of two apparently lifeless children and a man in the rubble of a building at the location.
More footage showed rescue workers loading what appeared to be a small body wrapped in a white plastic sheet into an ambulance. Other body bags were in the back of the vehicle.
Using head torches in the dark, the workers looked for remains through chunks of concrete, children’s soft toys and women’s clothing in a bombed-out building. A kitchen was blackened and burnt, windows hung from their frames and plastic utensils were half melted.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos.
A Syrian man who witnessed the raid said he went out of his house after midnight and saw aircraft in the sky.
“Ten minutes later we heard screams. ‘Surrender, the house is surrounded,'” he said. “We heard fire. There was shelling from airplanes and machine guns.”
One witness who lives nearby said he saw several bodies at the scene. “There was blood everywhere,” he told Reuters. He added that one U.S. helicopters appeared to suffer a mechanical failure and was blown up by the U.S. forces.
A rebel official who declined to be named said the jihadist who was the apparent target of the raid was with his family at the time.
Witnesses said the raid ended with aircraft, believed to be helicopters, leaving the site but unidentified reconnaissance planes were still hovering in the area.
JIHADIST GROUPS
Jihadists in northwestern Syria include Huras al-Din (Guardians of Religion), an al Qaeda-affiliated faction whose leaders include foreign fighters.
U.S. forces have used drones to target the group and other jihadists in the area for years, but Thursday’s operation appeared to be the largest of its kind by U.S. forces in the northwest since Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a U.S. special operations raid in 2019, said Charles Lister, senior fellow with the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Islamic State fighters have been re-emerging as a deadly threat, aided by the lack of central control in many areas, according to a dozen security officials, local leaders and residents in northern Iraq.
The United States has offered rewards for information leading to the identification of senior Huras al-Din leaders.
The most powerful group in northwestern Syria is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former Nusra Front, which was part of al Qaeda until 2016.
The rebel official said security from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group hurried to the location after the raid.
The Atmeh area is crammed with tens of thousands of Syrians who have been uprooted in the war and live in makeshift camps or overcrowded housing.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Heather Timmons; Writing by Tom Perry and Michael Perry; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Nick Macfie)
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