According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the suspected leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia was killed during an operation by the Turkish secret service in Syria.
The Turkish secret service MIT “neutralized” the “suspected” IS leader Abu Hussein al-Kurashi in Syria on Saturday, Erdogan said in a television interview on Sunday. The Turkish secret services have been following his trail “for a long time,” he added.
At the end of November, IS announced the death of its then leader Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Kurashi and appointed Abu Hussein al-Kurashi as the new “caliph”.
As a correspondent for the AFP news agency in northern Syria reported, the Turkish secret service and the Turkish-backed local military police cordoned off an area near the city of Jindires in the Afrin region on Saturday, about ten kilometers from the Turkish border. Local residents interviewed by AFP reported an operation at an abandoned farmhouse that was once used as an Islamic school.
Turkey has stationed soldiers in northern Syria since 2020 and, with the support of Syrian auxiliaries, controls entire areas.
The US is likely to eliminate two IS leaders
The US army has repeatedly attacked IS leaders in Syria in recent years. In mid-April, she announced an airstrike against a senior IS leader in northern Syria. The man had planned attacks in Europe and the Middle East and was “probably” killed in the operation. The US Army’s Middle East Central Command said it was Abdel Hadi Mahmoud al-Haji Ali.
In early April, US troops said they had killed an IS group leader responsible for planning attacks in Europe. His name is Khalid Aid Ahmed al-Jaburi.
In 2014, IS took control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, but gradually lost these areas again under military pressure from a US-led coalition. At the height of its power, IS claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Europe. In 2019, the United States announced the killing of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during an operation in north-west Syria.
Irrespective of this, IS has repeatedly attacked collectors of desert truffles in Syria. In mid-April, suspected IS fighters killed at least 41 people, including 24 civilians. Despite urgent warnings from the authorities, hundreds of impoverished Syrians continue to make a risky living in the vast desert.
While the self-proclaimed “caliphate” is considered defeated in Syria and Iraq, IS has been able to expand its influence in other parts of the world, such as the Sahel, Nigeria and Afghanistan. (afp)
