US Central Command says Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was a planner for “terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Europe.”
US forces have killed a senior ISIL (ISIS) group leader in Syria in a helicopter operation, the US military said.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was the main target of a “unilateral helicopter attack” carried out early Monday morning.
The statement described him as a “leader and operational planner responsible for planning terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Europe.”
Monday’s raid came after intelligence services indicated ISIL planned to kidnap officials abroad, CENTCOM said.
Two other members of the group were also killed, according to the statement.
CENTCOM did not provide further details about the operation.
CENTCOM confirms that a senior ISIS leader was killed in a helicopter strike in northern Syria this morning. pic.twitter.com/LTTf44uFQf
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 17, 2023
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the operation on Monday targeted a building in al-Suwaydah, a town about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of the city of Jarablus on Syria’s northern border with Turkey.
The Britain-based war monitor, which reports to sources on the ground, said it killed the main target and two other fighters.
The raid comes two weeks after a US strike in Syria. killed another top ISIL leaderKhalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, according to US officials.
ISIL controlled large tracts of land in Iraq and Syria from 2014 until its territorial defeat in late 2017.
the armed group lost its last stronghold in 2019, but ISIL fighters continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
“We know that ISIS retains a desire to attack beyond the Middle East,” Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesman, said Monday after the helicopter operation.
“This raid deals a significant blow to ISIS operations in the region, but it does not eliminate ISIS’s ability to conduct operations.”
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