An Islamic State official was killed in Syria in a US strike, the US military command for the Middle East (Centcom) announced. Khaled Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri was “responsible for planning IS attacks in Europe”, Centcom said in a statement, stressing that his death would “temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to stage attacks abroad “.
The US military command did not specify where the strike took place in Syria, but said no civilians were killed or injured in the raid. “ISIS continues to pose a threat to the region and beyond,” said the head of the US military command for the Middle East, General Michael Kurilla, quoted in the press release.
US soldiers deployed in northeastern Syria
“Even weakened, the group remains capable of carrying out operations in the region, with the will to strike beyond the Middle East”. Since the territorial defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, several hundred American soldiers, deployed in the northeast of the country as part of the anti-jihadist coalition, continue to fight with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, dominated by Kurds ) and to target suspected ISIS members.
In October 2019, the United States announced the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during an American operation in northwestern Syria.