In a daring raid by U.S. special operation forces in northwest Syria, ISIS terror leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, also known as Haji Abdullah, refused to surrender to U.S. special operators and killed himself and his family in a massive explosion.
Thankfully, there were no U.S. casualties in this mission approved by President Biden.
Referring to Abdullah, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said: “He killed himself and his immediate family without fighting, even as we attempted to call for his surrender and offered him a path to survive.”
Abdullah was reportedly ejected from the building by the blast and was identified by fingerprint and DNA analyses.
McKenzie added Abdullah was “every bit as evil and committed to attacks on the United States and its partners as was his predecessor.” McKenzie was referring to the prior ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was killed by a similar U.S. special ops raid in 2019 ordered by President Trump.
Baghdadi also blew himself up along with his children when cornered in a tunnel by U.S. operators.
The general offered regret for any civilian loss of life but emphasized that Abdullah was responsible for that, not U.S. forces. In this case, the Pentagon specifically avoided using a drone strike to kill Abdullah to avoid collateral civilian damage or any mistakes as occurred in the tragic drone strike ordered by President Biden in Afghanistan in August
According to DOD News:
The general said the Defense Department deeply regrets the loss of life of any non-combatants, but ISIS fighters were directly or indirectly responsible for every family member who perished in the mission through their “cowardly” acts or through their choice to fight U.S. forces. He added the professionalism of U.S. forces saved the majority of non-combatants and pursued every possible opportunity to save all of those who were present.
“The death of Haji Abdullah is a clear signal that the United States remains focused and committed to finding and eliminating the terrorists who are plotting to do us harm, and we will not rest while their organizations remain committed to terrorism and violence against the international community in the United States of America,” the Centcom commander said. “It's also a signal to all of those who wrongfully proclaimed that the United States was no longer interested in or committed to security in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth, and this mission confirms that,” he added.
McKenzie added that “We have come a very long way since the dark days of 2014 when ISIS had overrun Raqqa [in Syria] and Mosul [Iraq] and threatened Baghdad with the invaluable contributions of nations that would form Combined Joint Task Force Operation – Inherent Resolve.”
However, the general explained, ISIS has nevertheless reconstituted as an asymmetric threat, and it continues to terrorize the innocent populations of Iraq and Syria whenever it can.
While ISIS remains committed to harm the United States, McKenzie noted that they can be defeated or at least neutralized. “ISIS fighters are brutal and relentless, but they're also fairly conventional military targets,” the general said. “Our task is to find, fix and finish them.”
McKenzie also noted that besides ISIS Iran remains a central threat in this region, saying: “Specifically, my mission is to deter Iran from undertaking malign activities that undermine the security and stability of the region.”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
