President Joe Biden stated Thursday that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the commander of the Islamic State, was killed in an overnight US military assault in Syria.
As US special operations soldiers approached intending to arrest him, Al-Qurayshi detonated a device that killed himself and numerous others, including his wife and children, according to Biden.
ISIS leader killed in US military raid
Thirteen individuals, including six children and four women, were slain, according to first responders. According to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, those statistics don't match their estimates of casualties. Witnesses claimed US soldiers arrived in helicopters and attacked a home in a rebel-held area of northwest Syria, battling with gunmen for two hours. Helicopter gunships, armed Reaper drones, and assault aircraft supported the commandos.
On the third story of a residence where he resided, Al-Qurayshi, also known as Hajji Abdullah Qardash, was slain. One of his lieutenants locked himself and his family on the second story during the attack. According to authorities, he and his wife were slain in the battle after firing on US forces. After the gunshots, some youngsters on the second level were able to flee safely, according to USA Today.
Al-Qurayshi's death was verified through fingerprint and DNA tests, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. According to the person, the operation took months to prepare. Biden was kept up to speed throughout the process, including a comprehensive briefing in December that set out where al-Qurayshi was hiding and the difficulties of carrying out the operation given the people residing in the house.
President Biden, together with Vice President Kamala Harris and members of his national security staff, gave the final go-ahead for the two-hour operation on Tuesday morning and watched proceedings in real-time in the Situation Room Wednesday night until the team of US special forces had departed the scene.
Due to intelligence that suggested people were also residing in the structure, US forces chose to undertake a raid, placing US troops in greater danger rather than an airstrike. Biden said the operation was aimed to avoid civilian losses. One family was evacuated before the raid, and four children were evacuated after the raid, NBC News reported.
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Civilian deaths reported in US operation in Syria
US Special Forces carried out the two-hour mission in the rebel-held Idlib province's tiny town of Atmeh. "There was blood everywhere," a local resident told Reuters.
Al-Qurayshi exploded a massive bomb that murdered members of his family, according to the president, causing civilian deaths. Residents told the Associated Press that the US operation that targeted a two-story house surrounded by olive trees resulted in a swarm of helicopters, explosions, and machine-gun fire.
The upper level of the home was severely damaged in the battle, according to footage from Syrian TV networks. Blood and body parts were seen splattered on the floor in the parts of the structure that were still intact, and two children's bodies were seen in footage examined by Reuters.
Children were spotted in photos from the demolished house, which suggested they were in the area. One of the demolished bedrooms had a wooden crib on the floor, a plastic swing was still hanging on one of the walls that had survived the shelling, and shattered dolls were found on the ground.
At 1:10 am, Omar Saleh, a village resident, told the Associated Press, his windows began to shake. When helicopters hovered over his house at night, a loudspeaker blared out an order to vacate the area for ladies. For the next 45 minutes, this continued. There was no one to speak to. Then came the machine-gun fire, which lasted for two hours, according to Saleh.
It was the largest US operation in Syria's Idlib region since the assassination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump in 2019, as per The Daily Beast.
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