ISIS commander in Syria killed in air strike
SMA NEWS – DEMASCUS
The leader of ISIS in Syria has been killed in an air strike, US forces said on Tuesday.
US Central Command, the American military headquarters in the Middle East, announced Maher Al Agal’s death in what it said was a mission to ensure “the enduring defeat of ISIS”.
“US Central Command Forces conducted a ‘UAS’ strike outside Jindayris, north-west Syria targeting two senior ISIS officials, on July 12,” the statement said, referring to a US military term for a drone.
“Maher Al Agal, one of the top-five ISIS leaders and the leader of ISIS in Syria, was killed in the strike. A senior ISIS official closely associated with Maher was seriously injured during the strike.
“Extensive planning went into this operation to ensure its successful execution. An initial review indicates there were no civilian casualties.”
Reports were also circulated on social media on Tuesday of a drone strike in Afrin, a district occupied by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and also home to the town of Jindayris.
The terrorist’s death represents another episode in the downward spiral of an organisation which once controlled much of eastern Syria and around one third of Iraq.
Members of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service in Anbar province in December 2015 after its capital, Ramadi, fell to ISIS. All Photos: AFP
Members of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service in Anbar province in December 2015 after its capital, Ramadi, fell to ISIS. All Photos: AFP
The most notorious ISIS commander, who led the group from its rise until it was able to take over entire cities, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, died in a US Special Forces raid in October 2019, while hiding out in Idlib, northern Syria. That province, long a bastion of anti-Syrian regime resistance, had never been ISIS-controlled and was held by militants linked to Al Qaeda.
Baghdadi was succeeded by Muhammad Al Mawla, himself killed in a US Special Forces raid in Syria on February 3.
Agal’s fate echoed the demise of many ISIS commanders since the group lost almost all of its territory between the victory of an Iraqi and US-led coalition in Mosul in July 2017, and the expulsion of the group from its last Syrian stronghold of Raqqa in October of the same year.
