US military says that four senior ISIS leaders were slain in last month’s Iraq raid.
The joint US-Iraqi raid was one of the biggest in recent memory, according to US officials.
Four senior ISIS leaders were killed in Iraq last month during a raid, the US military announced on Friday, marking a rare public admission of such a large-scale operation by the Pentagon.
Four senior ISIS leaders were killed in Iraq last month during a raid, the US military announced on Friday, marking a rare public admission of such a large-scale operation by the Pentagon. Four senior ISIS leaders, including the group’s head of manufacturing in Iraq, were killed in an ongoing post-raid assessment, according to CENTCOM’s statement on Friday.
Abu Ali al-Tunisi was the target of a $5 million US reward for information regarding his whereabouts because of his affiliation with ISIS. He is also accused of developing chemical weapons and providing cutting-edge training in the development of weaponry.
The two ISIS leaders for operations in western Iraq were also eliminated as a result of the cooperative operation with the Iraqi Security Forces, according to CENTCOM. Ahmad Hamid Hussein Abdel Jalil al-Ithawi, who is believed to have overseen each and every ISIS operation in Iraq, was also killed.
The New York Times reports that over 100 US Special Operations soldiers and other troops, along with a smaller number of Iraqi forces, took part in the pre-dawn operation. Five US soldiers were injured during the operation, and two US soldiers were injured from falls, according to a US defense official who previously spoke with Al Arabiya English. One wounded and two injured were flown out for further treatment.
US officials described the joint US-Iraqi raid as one of the largest in recent memory.
In addition to disrupting and weakening ISIS’s capacity to plot, coordinate, and carry out attacks against Iraqi civilians, US citizens, allies, and partners in the region, and beyond, CENTCOM said that this operation “targeted ISIS leaders.”
The US military is still dedicated to defeating ISIS, “who continues to threaten the United States, our allies and partners, and regional stability,” according to CENTCOM Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla.
Under constant pressure from Tehran and Iranian-backed politicians and militias in the nation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani has publicly demanded that US troops leave the country. At Baghdad’s invitation, the US has about 2,500 service members stationed in Iraq to assist in the fight against ISIS. It is estimated that another 900 people are involved in the same mission in Syria.
ISIS was severely degraded in recent years by a coalition led by the United States that was focused on defeating the group, the Pentagon warned earlier this year. Now, the group was attempting to resurrect itself.
ISIS is expected to more than double the number of attacks they claimed in 2023, according to CENTCOM’s July report.
The Pentagon estimates that there are 2,500 ISIS fighters roving free in Syria and Iraq. Furthermore, ISIS reported 153 attacks in both countries between January and June of 2024.
Separately, CENTCOM declared on Friday that an unidentified ISIS fighter was killed by the US military on Thursday in eastern Syria during a strike while he was setting up an IED for an intended attack against Coalition and ally forces.
Syria’s SDF and US CENTCOM apprehend an ISIS “facilitator” Al-Danal, Khaled AhmedOn Monday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had taken control of ISIS.
