The leader of the Islamic State in Syria was killed in a US military airstrike, US officials said on Tuesday.
The death comes as the militant Islamist group tries to reorganize itself as a guerrilla force after losing large swaths of territory.
In a statement, US Central Command said Maher al-Agal was killed in the drone strike in northwest Syria and a close associate of his was seriously injured.
“Extensive planning was done for this operation to ensure its successful execution. An initial review indicates that there were no civilian casualties,” the statement added.
The text claims that al-Agal was responsible for developing Islamic State networks outside Iraq and Syria.
The United States has about 900 troops in Syria, mostly in the east of the country divided by a decade of civil war, although the administration of President Joe Biden has yet to detail its long-term plan for the eight-year mission.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a humanitarian organization operating in opposition-held areas, said an unidentified drone attacked a motorcycle in the village of Khaltan in the northern Aleppo region, killing two people.
In February, the top Islamic State leader blew himself up during a US military strike in Syria.
At the height of its power from 2014 to 2017, the Islamic State ruled millions of people and claimed responsibility or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world.
Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate over a quarter of Iraq and Syria in 2014, before being killed in a US special forces strike in northwest Syria in 2019 when the group collapsed.
The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State said in mid-2019, after the group’s defeat on the battlefield, that it held 14,000 to 18,000 members, including 3,000 foreigners, although the precise numbers are as elusive as the Islamic State itself. .
“Islamic State continues to pose a threat to the US and partners in the region,” a US Central Command spokesperson said in a statement about the drone strike.
Analysts say many local fighters may have returned to normal life, ready to reappear when the opportunity arises.
(From Maya Gebeily in Beirut; edited by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)
Source: CNN Brasil
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