Global terrorist group ISIS confirmed that its leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who led the faction since November, has died in a confrontation with militants in Syria and has already named his successor.
The extremist organization did not detail when al-Qurayshi was killed but noted that he died fighting an al-Qaeda-linked group. A spokesman for ISIS, Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari, said that the new leader would be Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi.
ISIS Confirms Death of Its Leader
The deceased leader is the fourth ISIS leader to be killed since the terror group's founding by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who declared a caliphate in the majority of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat in the years.
In an audio message, the group's spokesman noted that the late al-Qurayshi was "martyred" in rebel-held northwestern Syria by several Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members. It was when the latter tried to detain the ISIS leader in the province of Idlib, as per NBC News.
He added that al-Qurayshi fought against the Syrian militants until he succumbed to the wounds he received. Al-Ansari noted that the al-Qaeda-linked group was also responsible for detaining some IS members who were accompanying the late leader, which includes another spokesman, Abu Omar al-Muhajir.
In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish intelligence agents were able to kill al-Qurayshi in northern Syria. This was a statement that the terrorist group denied at the time.
The Islamic State group is known for breaking away from al-Qaeda more than ten years ago and getting supporters worldwide. Despite being defeated in 2017 Iraq and 2019 in Syria, the group's members continue to carry out deadly attacks in both nations and other countries.
ISIS is accusing the HTS, which has not claimed responsibility for any operation that targeted the Islamic State's leader, of working in Ankara's interest. Additionally, the United States and other Western governments have blacklisted the HTS as a terrorist group, according to Aljazeera.
Rise and Fall of the Terrorist Group
The situation also comes as the US government has given sanctions to the supporters of the terrorist group and other organizations. The sanctions were imposed for the alleged provision of financial support to operations of ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist groups located in the Maldives.
In a statement on Monday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the goal of the new sanctions is to deter and disrupt financial and other forms of support for extremist organizations within the Maldives.
The list of recipients of the sanctions included 18 ISIS and ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) facilitators, two al-Qaeda operatives, and 29 associated companies. The targets of the sanctions have previously been linked to Mohamad Ameen, who is considered a key ISIS-K recruiter who was designated by the US in 2019.
Some of the affected individuals have been involved in planning and executing attacks targeting journalists and local authorities. Miller noted that the US maintains its steadfast stance in its commitment to countering the threats posed by the terrorist support networks, said the Hindustan Times.
