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THE chief of ISIS blew himself and his household up after utilizing his personal kids as human shields throughout a bloody raid by US particular forces, it emerged in the present day.
ISIS boss Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi “selected to blow himself up” in a “last act of determined cowardness,” President Joe Biden mentioned on Thursday.
“As a last act of determined cowardness, [al-Qurayshi] with no regard to the lives of his family or others within the constructing, he selected to blow himself up,” Biden mentioned.
He mentioned the jihadi terrorist blew up “that third ground reasonably than face justice for the crimes he has dedicated, taking a number of members of his household with him.
“This horrible terrorist chief is not any extra.”
Biden, together with Vice President Kamala Harris and nationwide safety advisors, watched the raid on live-feed from the White Home State of affairs Room, based on photographs launched by the administration.
“This operation is testomony to America’s attain and functionality to take out terrorist threats, regardless of the place they attempt to disguise anyplace on this planet,” he mentioned.
“I am decided to guard the American folks from terrorist threats, and I will take decisive motion to guard this nation.
“We stay vigilant. We stay ready. Final night time’s operation took a significant terrorist chief off the battlefield and despatched a powerful message to terrorists around the globe: We’ll come after you and discover you.”
13 individuals are believed to have died, together with six children and 4 girls, through the daring raid which concerned 24 elite Particular-Ops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships on Thursday.
“Firstly of the operation, the terrorist goal exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his family, together with girls and youngsters,” a senior administration official informed Reuters.
It comes hours after the President confirmed al-Qurayshi – who had a $10 million bounty on his head – had been “faraway from the battlefield” through the in a single day operation.
In a press release, the President mentioned: “Final night time at my path, U.S. army forces within the northwest Syria efficiently undertook a counterterrorism operation to guard the American folks and our Allies, and make the world a safer place
“Due to the talent and bravado of our Armed Forces, we’ve got taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi—the chief of ISIS. All Individuals have returned safely from the operation.
“Could God shield our troops.”
US troops have been reportedly deployed by way of a helicopter in the midst of the night time and surrounded Al-Qurashi’s home and ordered the ladies and youngsters to evacuate.
The helicopters then deployed their ordnance following the bottom assault, with a number of strikes decimating giant sections of the home.
Cowardly Al-Qurashi turned ISIS chief after former head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an analogous raid by US forces in 2019 within the close by city of Barisha.
Al-Qurashi, often known as Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, amongst different aliases, was a senior terrorist chief in ISIS’s predecessor organisation, Al Qaeda in Iraq, and steadily rose via the ranks to develop into deputy chief, based on Rewards for Justice.
He spearheaded the marketing campaign to abduct, rape, and slaughter 1000’s of Yazidis in northwest Iraq and was on the US State Division’s most needed listing since March 2020.
The operation – which residents say lasted greater than two hours – befell in Atmeh, a village close to the border with Turkey that’s house to 1000’s of Syrian refugees.
Due to the talent and bravado of our Armed Forces, we’ve got taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi—the chief of ISIS.
US President Joe Biden
Earlier, the Pentagon confirmed US particular ops had carried out what it referred to as a “profitable” counter-terrorism mission.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby mentioned: “U.S. Particular Operations forces below the management of U.S. Central Command performed a counterterrorism mission this night in northwest Syria.
“The mission was profitable. There have been no U.S. casualties.”
It comes as haunting photos emerge of physique elements scattered round al-Qurashi’s house in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province.
Jamil el-Deddo, a resident at a close-by refugee camp, informed the AP: “The primary moments have been terrifying, nobody knew what was occurring.
“We have been anxious it could possibly be Syrian plane, which introduced again reminiscences of barrel bombs that was dropped on us.”
The highest ground of the home was virtually fully destroyed whereas blood may be seen on the partitions and ground and a bed room with a baby’s wood crib on the ground.
On one other broken wall, a blue plastic kids’s swing was nonetheless hanging and a close-by kitchen was blackened with fireplace harm.
Different residents – who spoke on situation of anonymity for concern of reprisals – mentioned they heard helicopters, explosions and machine-gun fireplace.
This was the most important raid within the province for the reason that 2019 Trump-era U.S. assault that killed the Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Idlib is broadly managed by Turkey-backed fighters, however can be an al-Qaeda stronghold and residential to a number of of its high operatives.
Different militants, together with extremists from the rival IS group, have additionally discovered refuge within the area.
The Syrian Civil Protection and first responders referred to as the White Helmets confirmed 13 folks have been killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after U.S. the commando raid. They included six kids and 4 girls, it mentioned.
Witnesses described seeing a big floor assault, with U.S. forces utilizing megaphones urging girls and youngsters to depart the realm.
Omar Saleh, a close-by resident, mentioned the doorways and home windows of his home began to rattle to the sound of low-flying plane at 1:10 a.m. native time.
He then heard a person, talking Arabic with an Iraqi or Saudi accent via a loudspeaker, urging girls to give up or go away the realm.
This went on for 45 minutes. There was no response. Then the machine gun fireplace erupted, Saleh mentioned. He mentioned the firing continued for 2 hours, as plane circled low over the realm.
We have been anxious it could possibly be Syrian plane, which introduced again reminiscences of barrel bombs that was dropped on us
Atmeh resident Jamil el-Deddo
Others reported listening to at the least one main explosion through the operation.
A U.S. official mentioned that one of many helicopters within the raid suffered a mechanical downside and needed to be blown up on the bottom.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned troops for the U.S.-led coalition utilizing helicopters landed within the space and attacked a home. It mentioned the pressure clashed with fighters on the bottom.
The army operation obtained consideration on social media, with tweets from the area describing helicopters firing across the constructing close to Atmeh.
The U.S. has up to now used drones to kill high al-Qaeda operatives in Idlib, which at one level was house to the teams greatest focus of leaders for the reason that days of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The truth that particular forces landed on the bottom counsel the goal was believed to be of excessive worth.
An analogous assault in Pakistan, in 2011, killed Osama bin Laden.
Thursday’s clandestine operation got here because the Islamic State group was reasserting itself in Syria and Iraq, finishing up a few of its greatest assaults because it was defeated in 2019.
In latest weeks and months, the group has launched a sequence of operations within the area, together with a 10-day assault late final month to grab a jail in northeastern Syria.
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