A spokesman for the group mentioned its chief Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, was killed ‘in fight with enemies of God’.
The ISIL chief Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in a battle not too long ago, the armed group’s spokesman mentioned in an audio launched with out elaborating on the date of his loss of life or the circumstances.
Al-Hashimi, an Iraqi, died “combating the enemies of God killing”, Abu Omar al-Muhajer, the spokesman, mentioned on Wednesday, as he introduced the group’s new chief as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.
“He is likely one of the veteran warriors and one of many loyal sons of the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant],” al-Muhajer mentioned.
Little had been identified about al-Quraishi, who took over the group’s management following the loss of life of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, in a US raid in February in northwest Syria’s Idlib province. Not one of the al-Quraishis is believed to be associated.
The loss of life marked a blow to the armed group that was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later. However sleeper cells of the armed group nonetheless perform assaults in each nations.
The ISIL (ISIS) group declared its so-called “caliphate” in 2014 after conquering huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. The group has been making an attempt to group within the two nations in current months.
“We definitely welcome the information of the loss of life of one other ISIS chief. I don’t have any extra operational particulars to offer right now,” mentioned the spokesman for the US Nationwide Safety Council, John Kirby.
Al-Quraishi is the third chief to be killed since founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in Syria’s Idlib by the Individuals in 2019.
The US leads a army coalition comprising Syrian Democratic Forces in its battle towards ISIL in northeastern Syria.
Turkey in September mentioned safety forces had arrested a “senior government” of ISIL referred to as Abu Zeyd, whose actual identify was Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai.
Turkish media mentioned there have been some indications Sumaidai might need been the ISIL chief, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.