Secret Service Mission in Syria: Erdogan Says IS Leader Killed

Secret Service Mission in Syria
Erdogan says IS leader killed

04/30/2023, 11:58 PM

At the end of November, Abu Husayn al-Qurashi was named the head of the Islamic State terrorist group. Now the organization’s leader appears to be dead in Syria. Turkish President Erdogan said Abu Hussein al-Qurashi had been “neutralized” by the secret service.

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia was killed during an operation by the Turkish secret service in Syria. Turkish secret service MIT “neutralized” the “so-called leader” Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria on Saturday, Erdogan said in a televised interview.

In late November, IS announced the death of its leader, Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, and appointed Abu Hussein al-Qurashi as the new “caliph”. According to the AFP news agency, the Turkish secret service and local military police, backed by Turkey, surrounded an area near the town of Zintrez in the Afrin region on Saturday. Locals said the operation took place in an abandoned farmhouse that was once used as an Islamic school.

In mid-April, the US military announced an airstrike against a senior IS leader in northern Syria. The man responsible for planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East was “probably” killed in the operation.

In 2014, IS took control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, but gradually lost these areas under military pressure from the US-led coalition. Although the self-proclaimed “caliphate” is considered defeated in Syria and Iraq, IS has managed to expand its influence in other parts of the world, such as the Sahel, Nigeria and Afghanistan.