Islamic State leader killed in overnight US raid in Syria

The leader of the Islamic State group blew himself up during an overnight raid by US special operations forces in northwest Syria, President Joe Biden said this morning.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and several civilians were killed during a pre-dawn raid at a house in Atmeh, in rebel-held Idlib province, just minutes away from the Turkish border.

“Last night at my direction, US military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation,” Biden said in a statement Thursday morning. “Thanks to the bravery of our armed forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of ISIS.”

Al-Qurayshi, also known as Hajji Abdullah, took command the IS jihadist group following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a similar US special forces raid just an hour’s drive away in October 2019.

The Syrian White Helmets, a volunteer rescue organization operating in rebel-held areas, said Thursday its workers had recovered 13 bodies from the site so far, including six children and four women.

Senior administration officials speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity disavowed US responsibility for the deaths. “All casualties at this site were due to the acts of ISIS terrorists inside the residence,” one official said.

“I directed the Department of Defense to take every precaution possible to minimize civilian casualties,” President Biden said in a speech Thursday morning.

The raid began after midnight on Thursday and lasted more than two hours, culminating in heavy gunfire on the house from US helicopters circling overhead, according to local reports. US forces initially called via loudspeaker for men, women and children to exit the building, a witness said.

“As our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final act of desperate cowardice… he chose to blow himself up… taking several members of his family with him,” Biden said in his speech. Officials said the blast destroyed much of the top floor of the house, images of which circulated on social media.

During the operation, another Islamic State member, whom US officials described as a lieutenant to Hajji Abdullah, barricaded himself and members of his own family on the second floor of the building. He and his wife were killed after opening fire on US forces, the administration officials said.

At least eight children were “safely removed” from the area after emerging from the building, they said.

At one point during the operation, a US helicopter was targeted with gunfire by personnel on the ground. Officials said two people were killed when US forces returned fire.

Before withdrawing, American operators destroyed one of their own helicopters due to a mechanical malfunction, though it was not believed to have been due to any hostile action.

The Pentagon released a statement after midnight on Thursday, Washington time, saying the operation was successful and there were no American casualties.

The raid, which had been in planning for months, was approved by President Biden on Tuesday morning.

It came two weeks after the Islamic State launched a major prison break with at least one car bomb and more than a hundred fighters in northeast Syria, which is under the control of a Kurdish-led alliance of local multiethnic militias backed by the US military. 

Biden on Thursday said Hajji Abdullah was behind last month’s assault on the Sinaa prison in Hasakah, which led to a battle that left hundreds dead and took more than a week to contain.

It remains unclear how many IS prisoners escaped, though the facility held as many as 5,000 suspected jihadists.

This is a developing story and will be updated.