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Maher al-Agal, one of many terror group’s prime 4 commanders, was killed in an air strike in Syria
The US killed Maher al-Agal, chief of the Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) terrorist group in Syria, in a drone strike on Tuesday that additionally focused one in every of his deputies. Al-Agal was one of many group’s prime 4 leaders, officers say.
Al-Agal’s loss of life was introduced on Tuesday by the Pentagon’s Central Command (CENTCOM), the navy command masking the Center East. CENTCOM stated that the strike befell outdoors Jindayris in northwest Syria, an space at the moment below the management of Turkish-backed forces.
A deputy of al-Agal was additionally focused within the strike, and was significantly injured, based on a CENTCOM assertion.
“The elimination of those ISIS leaders will disrupt the terrorist group’s capability to additional plot and perform assaults,” CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino stated. “ISIS continues to signify a menace to the US and companions within the area.”
The US has carried out quite a lot of strikes and raids on senior IS personnel in northwestern Syria in current months. An alleged prime chief of the group was detained by US forces in a raid final month, whereas total IS commander Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi killed himself with a suicide vest throughout a raid by US particular forces within the space in February.
A spokesman for the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces – a US-backed faction in Syria’s multi-sided civil warfare – claimed on Tuesday that “tons of” of IS fighters are nonetheless hiding out in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria.
Whereas small teams of IS militants stay energetic in Syria, the group’s energy and affect has been all however destroyed lately. Whereas IS as soon as commanded huge swathes of territory in Iraq, Syria and North Africa, a navy marketing campaign by the Syrian authorities and Russia, in addition to an air marketing campaign by the US and its allies, efficiently crushed the jihadist group from 2015 onwards.
The strike on al-Agal comes someday earlier than US President Joe Biden is ready to go to the Center East, touching down in Israel on Wednesday earlier than touring to Saudi Arabia. Whereas in Saudi Arabia, Biden will attend a gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which incorporates Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Delegations from Egypt, Iraq and Jordan may also attend the assembly.
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