US President Donald Trump on Friday took credit score for killing a senior Islamic State terrorist chief in Iraq, based on his latest submit on Reality Social platform.
Abdullah Makki Muslih al-Rufayi, also referred to as Abu Khadija, was eradicated in an operation by Iraqi safety forces, introduced PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
“Right now the fugitive chief of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His depressing life was terminated, together with one other member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Authorities and the Kurdish Regional Authorities. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” Trump wrote. He later shared this submit on X.
The White Home on Saturday additionally launched a video of the operation, involving US and Iraqi forces, on X. The operation was carried out on March 13.
The operation that killed Abu Khadija
The USA Central Command (CENTCOM), in a submit on X, mentioned a precison airstrike was carried out with Iraqi intelligence and safety forces that killed Khadija and and one other ISIS operative.
“After the strike, CENTCOM and Iraqi forces moved to the strike web site and located each useless ISIS terrorists. Each terrorists have been sporting unexploded “suicide vests” and had a number of weapons. CENTCOM and Iraqi forces have been capable of determine Abu Khadijah via a DNA match from DNA collected on a earlier raid the place Abu Khadijah narrowly escaped,” CENTCOM’s submit mentioned.
In accordance with a CNN report, the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. One other official instructed the CNN that the operation the operation came about on the evening of March 13 however Khadijah’s loss of life was confirmed a day later.
Who was Abu Khadija
CENTCOM described Khadija because the “Emir of ISIS’ most senior decision-making physique.” “Abu Khadijah maintained accountability for operations, logistics, and planning carried out by ISIS globally, and directs a good portion of finance for the group’s international group,” it mentioned.
“Abu Khadijah was one of the crucial necessary ISIS members in your entire international ISIS group. We are going to proceed to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and accomplice personnel within the area and past,” mentioned Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, US Central Command.
Abu Khadija joined al-Qaeda in 2009. Two years later, he was apprehended and imprisoned, however he managed to flee from Tasfirat jail in 2011. He resurfaced in 2014, coinciding with ISIS’s speedy growth throughout Iraq and Syria.
Ascending shortly throughout the ISIS, Khadija held numerous vital positions, together with safety chief for Kirkuk province, earlier than ultimately assuming the function of “Wali of the Blessed Land”. This place positioned him accountable for ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria, making him a key architect of the group’s makes an attempt to regenerate its capabilities within the area.
Syria, Iraq pledge to fight ISIS
The announcement got here on the identical day as the primary go to by Syria’s high diplomat to Iraq, throughout which the 2 international locations pledged to work collectively to fight IS.
Iraqi Overseas Minister Fouad Hussein, based on the CNN report, mentioned at a information convention that “there are frequent challenges going through Syrian and Iraqi society, and particularly the terrorists of IS.” He mentioned the officers had spoken “intimately concerning the actions of ISIS, whether or not on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or inside Iraq” throughout the go to.
Hussein additional referred to an operations room shaped by Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon at a latest assembly in Amman to confront IS and mentioned it could quickly start work.
The connection between Iraq and Syria is considerably fraught after the autumn of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Sudani got here to energy with the assist of a coalition of Iran-backed factions, and Tehran was a serious backer of Assad.
The present interim president of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was earlier reportedly often known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani and fought as an al-Qaida militant in Iraq after the US invasion of 2003 and later fought in opposition to Assad’s authorities in Syria.
The US and Iraq had introduced an settlement final yr to wind down the navy mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition preventing the Islamic State group by September 2025, with US forces departing some bases the place they’ve stationed troops throughout a two-decade-long navy presence within the nation.
(With inputs from businesses)
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