An air attack killed an elderly leader of the Islamic State who believes it was the head of the group in Iraq and Syria on Friday, in a joint and American joint operation using the intelligence of both countries, said Iraq Prime Minister.
A high American military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational issues, confirmed the strike and said that the special operating forces of both countries were in the province of Anbar, Iraq, collecting material from the strike site.
The leader of the Islamic State, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay’i, who was also known as Abu Khadija, was “one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world”, said Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
Iraqi forces have conducted an aggressive anti -terrorism campaign in the last two years, interrupting, killing and holding a series of Islamic State cells operating in the country with support from the United States.
The killing of an elderly leader of the Islamic State in the Middle East comes while the group has reconstituted in Syria, making more attacks than at any time since he lost control of his territory almost six years ago. There have been more than 300 attacks in Syria alone in 2024, according to the United Nations.
It was thought that Al-Rufay’i was one of the Senior managers in the Islamic State in the region and it is believed that it would carry out more jobs, according to the most recent relationship of the United Nations, including help to coordinate between Iraq, Syria, Türkiye and elsewhere.
It is the third leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to be killed since 2019. In the past, the new leaders have been named relatively quickly, although their identity may not be widely known for some time.
Since 2019, when the Islamic State was defeated in Iraq and Syria, where it once controlled almost a third of the geographical area of both countries, it was reconstituted and its organization changed. While he was already expanding in new countries before losing his territory, The other branches were secondary to its center in Iraq and Syria.
Now, with the affiliates in more than a dozen countries on three continents, the organization has evolved, according to Aaron Zelin, senior member of the Washington Institute, who has studied the Islamic State for many years. Some activities, such as the media, are controlled in a more central way, while others are left to its branches.
The most fatal attacks of 2024-in Russia and Iran-Furono conducted by the agents of the Islamic State who believed to have worked with the affiliate known as Is-Khorasan, which is based in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.
Eric Schmitt In Washington he contributed to relationships.