Maher al-Agal, the head of ISIS in Syria, was killed by a drone strike carried out by the US on Tuesday, according to US Central Command.
According to a statement from Central Command, the attack gravely damaged a senior ISIS leader who was close to Maher. No civilian injuries, according to an initial investigation.
According to Col. Joe Buccino, a spokesman for Central Command, “the removal of senior ISIS commanders will impede the terrorist organization’s capacity to further plot and carry out assaults.”
According to the announcement, the attack happened outside of Jindayris in northwest Syria.
ISIS’s ability to further plan and carry out operations will be hindered by the loss of these leaders, Buccino continued.
The attack on Tuesday was a component of ongoing attempts to fight ISIS, which has recently made a comeback in several regions of Syria and Iraq.
The death “takes an important terrorist off the field and dramatically weakens ISIS’s capacity to plan, resource, and conduct their activities in the region,” according to President Joe Biden.
In a statement on Tuesday, Biden said that the operation “sends a powerful message to all terrorists who attack our homeland and our interests around the world, like the U.S. operation in February that assassinated ISIS’s overall leader.” “The United States will work nonstop to prosecute you,” they said.
The operation “demonstrates that the United States does not require thousands of troops in combat missions to identify and neutralise threats to our country,” he said as he congratulated the military personnel.
A senior ISIS leader was taken into custody in the nation in June by the US-led multinational task force that is combating ISIS.
“Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi, known as Salim, was responsible for coordinating terrorist activities across the region,” the coalition stated in a statement. “He was aiding assaults on US and partner forces, assisting the construction of improvised explosive device facilities, and training others on how to make explosive devices.”
It happened following the death of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria several months prior. Since the 2019 mission that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the operation was the largest US raid in the nation.
A senior al Qaeda leader was attacked by the military in September 2017 close to Idlib, Syria, according to a statement from Central Command. According to Central Command, the military launched a drone attack against Abdul Hamid al-Matar, another important al Qaeda figure, one month later.
The military also targeted Musab Kinan in December, an al Qaeda associate Hurras al-Din senior leader who was located close to Idlib. The Pentagon was unable to offer updates until Central Command launched an inquiry into the likelihood of civilian deaths from the operation.
A statement from President Biden and further background information have been added to this story.
