The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was killed in a U.S. special forces counterterrorism operation in northwest Syria, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday.

As the U.S. military began a two-hour offensive on Wednesday, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi detonated a bomb on the third floor of the building where he lived, killing himself and including women and children family inside.

“Last night, on my orders, the U.S. military successfully neutralized a major terrorist threat to the world — Haji Abdullah, the global leader of the Islamic State,” Biden said in a televised address. He took over as global leader of ISIS in 2019. Since then, ISIS has directed terror operations against Americans, our allies, our partners, and countless civilians in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.”

With al-Qurayshi’s death, ISIS has lost its second supreme leader in less than three years. His predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a US operation in the same region in October 2019.

U.S. officials and ISIS experts viewed Wednesday’s action as another step in significantly reducing the group’s capabilities, but warned the terror group remained a threat.

The US president said the leader of the ISIS terror group oversaw the spread of ISIS-affiliated terror groups around the world after “savage communities and killing innocents”. He was responsible for the recent attack on a prison holding ISIS fighters in northeastern Syria; and was the “driving force” behind the 2014 Yazidis genocide in northwestern Iraq.

“We all remember the harrowing stories of the Holocaust that devastated entire villages; thousands of women and young girls were sold into slavery and raped as weapons of war,” he said, adding that as U.S. troops The bravery of the “terrible terrorist leader” is no more.

Biden said he had directed the Defense Department to take “every precaution possible” to minimize civilian casualties. Knowing that Quraishi chose to surround himself with his family (including children), the United States chose to conduct special forces raids that “pose a greater risk to our own people” rather than air strikes.

“We do know that, in a desperate cowardly final act, when our troops came close to capturing the terrorist, with no regard for the lives of his own family and the lives of others in the building, he chose to detonate himself and blow up the third floor instead of doing it for him. He was brought to justice for the crimes he committed, but with several members of his family.”

Biden said the killing was a testament to America’s influence and ability to neutralize the threat of terrorism. “We will hunt you down and find you,” he said, sending a strong message to terrorists around the world.

Until a few years ago, the background and identity of Iraqi national al-Qurayshi remained opaque, even to the government and counterterrorism experts.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times