1-4-2022
Biden says ISIS leader is dead after U.S. operation.
President Biden said Thursday that ISIS leader Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew himself up as U.S. special forces conducted a pre-dawn raid against him in northern Syria — and that all Americans returned safely from the operation.
"Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more," Biden said in remarks
at the White House.
"Last night operating on my orders, United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world,"
Biden said.
The president said that al-Qurayshi was responsible for the recent attack on a prison in Syria holding ISIS fighters and called him the "driving force" behind the genocide of the Yazidis in northern Iraq.
A senior administration official who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity said that al-Qurayshi "detonated a blast, a significant blast killing himself and several others, including his wife and children. This is the same terrorist tactic of his predecessor," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the official said, "taking his own life and his own family rather than face justice or stand and fight on his own."
"Both these terrorist leaders murdered their own families," the official said. "In this case, the blast was so large on the third floor that it blew bodies outside of the house and into the surrounding areas."
The official said that all casualties "at the site were due
to the acts of ISIS terrorists."
The Associated Press reports this was the largest strike in Idlib since the 2019 strike that killed al-Baghdadi, which also killed civilians. Residents in Atmeh told the AP they witnessed a large ground assault and that American forces used loudspeakers warning women and children to flee.
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