A U.S.-led coalition has killed 10 senior members of ISIS over the past few weeks, including a Syrian-based leader and others linked to the Nov. 13 Paris terror attacks, a spokesman for the coalition revealed Tuesday.
"Over the past month, we've killed 10 ISIL leadership figures with targeted air strikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris attacks," said U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State, according to Reuters. "Others had designs on further attacking the West."
One of the ISIS members was identified as Abdul Qader Hakim, who facilitated ISIS' external operations and had links to the Paris attack network, Warren said. He was killed in Mosul on Dec. 26.
Another killed was Charaffe al Mouadan, a Syrian-based member of ISIS with a "direct link" to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind behind the Paris attacks, reported CNN. He was killed in a Dec. 24 coalition airstrike in Syria.
Al Mouadan was actively planning attacks against the west. We will hunt ISIL leaders working to inspire attacks against US and our allies.
— COL Steve Warren (@OIRSpox) December 29, 2015
"We're striking at the head of this snake. We haven't severed the head of the snake yet, and it's still got fangs. We have to be clear about that. There's much more fighting to do," Warren said.
Warren noted the effect of the airstrikes on ISIS can already be seen in recent battlefield successes against the militant group. One such success was the recent retaking of Ramadi by the Iraqi army from the clutches of the Sunni militants who gained control of the city in May, according to The Guardian.
"Part of those successes is attributable to the fact that the organization is losing its leadership," Warren said.
