The head of the Islamic State (IS) organization in Syria was killed in a US drone strike in the northwest of the country on Tuesday, the Pentagon announced. Maher al-Agal, presented as “one of the five highest leaders” of IS, was killed while riding a motorcycle near the town of Jindires and his closest adviser was “seriously injured”, Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn said.
The last leader of Daesh was killed last February during a military operation led by the United States in northwestern Syria. Abu al-Qourachi had been at the head of the organization since the death of his mentor, al-Baghdadi, in October 2019. The American commando had first tried to capture him alive. “We saw helicopters flying above our heads, and after ten minutes, we heard soldiers shouting in English: ‘surrender, the house is surrounded'”, testifies a resident.
In June, an important jihadist leader was also captured in Mali in the border area by French soldiers as they entered the final phase of their withdrawal from that country. “On the night of June 11 to 12, 2022, an operation by the Barkhane force carried out near the Malo-Nigerian border led to the capture of Oumeya Ould Albakaye, senior official of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS)” , Sahelian antenna of the global nebula, had indicated the French staff in a press release.
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