US eliminates ISIS commander, planned kidnapping of officials

2023-04-18 09:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US eliminates ISIS commander, planned kidnapping of officials

American soldiers

Plans by the Islamic State terror group to kidnap officials outside the Middle East region and hold them for influence have prompted a US operation that killed one of the plot's suspected masterminds.

US Central Command confirmed on Monday the death of Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali during the operation in northern Syria, describing him as the leader who was responsible for planning attacks in the Middle East and Europe.

Confirmation of his death came hours after a US official, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity because of the nature of the operation, said the senior executive's body had been found and was undergoing DNA testing. to confirm his identity.

Two other fighters were killed along with him. According to the US command, no civilians were injured and US forces involved in the operation suffered no harm.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based opposition organization that monitors the war, reported that the operation by US forces took place before dawn in the village of Suwayda, near the town of Jarabulus, not far from the border with Turkey.

Sources told this organization that US forces arrived by helicopter in the early hours of the morning, starting fierce fighting with ISIS fighters, which ended only after US forces fired two rockets at the building where the ISIS leader was hiding.

VOA was unable to independently confirm the events.

"We know that ISIS retains the desire to strike beyond the Middle East," Central Command spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said in a statement Monday. "This operation deals a significant blow to ISIS operations in the region, but does not eliminate ISIS's ability to conduct operations."

The announcements of the alleged plot to kidnap officials in other countries and the US strike to thwart such efforts come as most Western assessments of the ISIS organization in Syria and Iraq, sometimes considered the core of ISIS, have underestimated the capabilities. of this group.

Just last month, a senior security official said an attack on the United States by ISIS was "almost unthinkable" because of the effect of counterterrorism operations by the United States and partner countries./ "Voice of America" .