U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said a U.S. special forces counter-terrorism to conduct a raid in northwest Syria on Thursday targeted the leader of ISIS, adding he would address the operation in remarks later on Thursday.
Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation. Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS.
Biden was scheduled to make public remarks early Thursday on the operation.
A senior US administration official said al-Quraishi was killed in a raid. "At the beginning of the operation the terrorist target exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children," the administration official said.
After the killing of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019, the group named as his successor al-Quraishi, an Iraqi who was once held in US custody.
