The US military has “eliminated from the battlefield” the head of Isis Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi during an operation in northern Syria. This was announced by Joe Biden, who ordered the operation. All American soldiers are safe and sound, said the president, who will address the nation at 9.30 am Washington time, 3.30 pm in Italy.
“Last night, under my direction, US military forces successfully carried out a counter-terrorism operation in northwestern Syria to protect Americans and our allies and make the world a safer place. Thanks to the skill and courage of our armed forces, we have eliminated Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, leader of Isis from the battlefield ». This was announced by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, specifying that no US soldiers were injured in the operation. The Pentagon previously described the raid as a “successful mission”.
According to US media, Al-Hashimi al-Qureyshi died by detonating a bomb he was wearing. At least 13 people were reported to have died in the blitz, including women and children.
The US operation in northern Syria was the largest raid in the province since the Trump-era US attack in 2019 that led to the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The US media reports. The blitz, led by US special forces, lasted two hours and affected the village of Atmeh near the border with Turkey, an area dotted with Syrian refugee camps.
“All Americans have returned safe and sound from the operation,” Biden said in a statement, referring to the acronym by which the Sunni Islamist militant group is sometimes known. A senior US administration official told Reuters al-Quraishi was killed in the raid. “At the start of the operation, the terrorist detonated 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 Bakral-Baghdadi in October 2019, the group named Quraishi, an Iraqi who was once held in US custody, as its successor. “While we are still evaluating 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 officials said.