The leader of the so-called Islamic State group was killed, blowing himself and members of his family up, during an overnight raid carried out by US special forces in north-western Syria, President Joe Biden said.
The raid targeted Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who took over as head of the militant group on October 31 2019, just days after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US raid in the same area.
Mr Biden said al-Qurayshi died as al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as US forces approached.
The operation came as IS has been trying for a resurgence, with a series of attacks in the region, including an assault late last month to seize a prison in north-east Syria holding at least 3,000 IS detainees, its boldest operation in years.
“Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Mr Biden said. He said al-Qurayshi had been responsible for the prison strike, as well as genocide against the Yazidi people in Iraq in 2014.
US special forces landed in helicopters and attacked a house in a rebel-held corner of Syria, clashing for two hours with gunmen, witnesses said.
Residents described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the town of Atmeh near the Turkish border, an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war.
Mr Biden said he ordered US forces to “take every precaution available to minimise civilian casualties,” the reason they did not conduct an airstrike on the home.
First responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said US officials believe al-Qurayshi’s explosive killed himself, his wife, and three children.
She added that US officials were conducting an assessment to determine whether any civilians were killed.
US forces collected DNA, which later confirmed al-Qurayshi’s death, officials said.
Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation. Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS.
https://t.co/lsYQHE9lR9— President Biden (@POTUS) February 3, 2022
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Mr Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and senior national security aides monitored a live-feed of the operation from the White House Situation Room, according to an official.
The president was kept abreast of the commandos’ long flight out of Syria by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan overnight.
The house, surrounded by olive trees in fields outside Atmeh, was left with its top floor shattered.
“The mission was successful,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement. “There were no US casualties.”
US officials said Al-Qurayshi never left his third-floor apartment, where he lived with his family, except to bathe on the building’s roof.
He communicated only through couriers, according to US officials.
Over the past several months, Mr Biden has been regularly updated on the intelligence surrounding al-Qurayshi’s whereabouts and the operational planning for the raid once he was located, officials said.
In December, a tabletop model of the three-floor house was brought to the Situation Room.
The second floor of the house was occupied by a lower-ranking IS leader and his family, but the first floor contained civilians who were unconnected to the terrorist group and unaware of al-Qurayshi’s presence, according to US officials.
Mr Biden gave “the final go” on the mission on Tuesday morning during his daily national security briefing in the Oval Office, where he was joined by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley.
In the first stages of the operation, US commandos approached the building and announced their presence. Residents and activists described witnessing a large ground assault, with US forces using megaphones urging women and children to leave the area.
Much to the relief of US officials, the family on the first floor exited the building unharmed.
The IS lieutenant, who officials did not name, who lived on the second floor barricaded himself inside along with his wife and engaged in combat with the commandos who entered the home after the explosion.
After a firefight, in which both were killed, officials said four children left the building.
The special operations forces spent about two hours on the ground, longer than usual for such an operation — indicative, US officials said, of caution to minimise civilian casualties.
A US official said one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and was redirected to a site nearby, where it was destroyed.
