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ISIS Leader Blows Up Himself, 13 Others, during US Counter-terrorism Raid in Syria

ISIS Leader Blows Up Himself, 13 Others, during US Counter-terrorism Raid in Syria

By Yehudit Garmaise

A US-led counter-terrorism operation in Syria on Thursday led global terrorist Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, a “chief ISIS thug,” to detonate himself and at least 13 other people, including members of his own family and others: including six children and four women.

President Biden said al-Qurayshi "chose to blow up" both himself and the entire third floor of the home in which he was hiding. No Americans were harmed, and they have safely left the Atmeh, the village in the Idlib Province in Syria, where the raid took place.

The president lauded the U.S. forces who carried out the raid, which he called a "testament to America's reach and capability to take out terrorists anywhere they hide in the world."

In the raid, US troops were reportedly using loudspeakers to urge women and children to leave the area that blared with the continuous sounds of helicopters, explosions, and machine-gun fire as US forces clashed with Syrian gunmen for more than two hours. Traumatized people on the ground said they saw body parts strewn around the two-story house that was targeted as al-Qurashi’s lair.

The top floor of the building, whose walls and floors were splashed with blood, was mostly reduced to rubble after the raid, reported the AP, which added that one helicopter had suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground.

"We will come after you and find you," said the president, who said he ordered the raid to "protect the American people and our allies and make the world a safer place." 

To go after terrorist organizations and Iran-backed militia groups, the US has conducted several air raids in Syria in recent years. President Biden said the US military chose to go after the ISIS leader with a special forces raid, rather than a missile strike to avoid civilian casualties.

The US, which had previously designated as a global terrorist al-Qurashi, whom a shura council elected as the new caliph of the Islamic State after the death of the previous leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had offered a $10 million reward for any information that would lead to his capture. 

The raid came as the Islamic State had been attempting a resurgence, as it launched a series of attacks in the region. 

Thursday’s operation was the biggest counter-terrorism effort since October 2019, when, in northwest Syria, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also detonated a suicide belt: killing himself and two children, while seeking to evade US forces during the raid, said General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, the United States Central Command.

The Islamic State or Daesh is a militant Sunni Islamist organization that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi created in Iraq when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

In 2014, the terrorist group proclaimed itself “a worldwide caliphate” and took over a large area of Syria and Iraq until U.S. airstrikes and Russian military advances in Syria and Iraqi military attacks seriously reduced the Islamic State’s capabilities and the land it controlled.

"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," Biden said. 


Photo: Flickr

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