ISIS chief killed in clashes in Syria, successor announced
Terror group ISIS has confirmed that its leader, Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi—who headed the extremist organization since November last year—has been killed in direct clashes with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in rebel-held northwestern Syria's Idlib province. An ISIS spokesperson made the announcement on its Telegram channel on Thursday and named Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the group's next leader.
Turkey claimed to have killed ISIS leader in April
Although ISIS didn't specify when its leader was killed, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in April that Turkish intelligence organization MIT killed the ISIS leader in Syria's Afrin, reported Al Jazeera. However, the ISIS spokesperson claimed that HTS killed the leader and handed the body to Turkey. Notably, Afrin lies in Aleppo province, controlled by Turkish-backed rebels, while HTS controls parts of Idlib.
ISIS claims HTS hand in glove with Turkey
Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported that after the MIT located and cornered the ISIS leader, he set off his suicide vest, realizing he was about to be captured. Although HTS hasn't claimed any operation targeting him, ISIS has accused HTS of being in cahoots with Turkey. The United States and other Western countries have blacklisted HTS as a terrorist group.
ISIS claimed responsibility for Pakistan suicide bombing
To note, ISIS's second leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, was killed in a US raid in Idlib in February 2022. In November 2022, ISIS announced the death of its third leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Despite being defeated, ISIS's sleeper cells continue to carry out attacks in Iraq and Syria. It recently claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Pakistan's Bajaur that killed 54 people.
4th ISIS 'caliph' to be killed since 2019
ISIS saw a meteoric rise around 2014 and gained control of vast territories in Iraq and Syria. However, its control waned in the last couple of years after it was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. This is the fourth ISIS "caliph" to be killed since the first, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in October 2019 in Idlib.
