Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the “presumed leader” of the Islamic State (ISIS) was “neutralised” on Saturday in Syria during an operation led by Turkish intelligence services.
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The Turkish head of state announced during an interview on TRT Turk that “the supposed leader of ISIS, nom de guerre Abu Hussein al-Quraishi, was neutralized during an operation carried out yesterday by (Turkish intelligence) in Syria.”
Mr. Erdogan said Turkish intelligence services had been following the Pakistani intelligence chief “for a long time”, without providing further details about the circumstances of the operation.
On November 30, the Islamic State announced the killing of its former leader, Abu Hassan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, without specifying the circumstances.
He was immediately replaced by Abu al-Husayn al-Husayni al-Qurashi, according to the Islamic State.
An AFP correspondent in northern Syria reported that the Turkish intelligence services and the local military police, with Turkish support, cordoned off, on Saturday, an area north of the town of Al-Jinderes in the Afrin region (northeast), about ten kilometers from Turkey. border.
Residents interviewed by Agence France-Presse said that the operation targeted an abandoned farm that was used in the past as an Islamic school.
Turkey has been deploying forces in northern Syria since 2020 and controls entire regions with its Syrian proxies.
The US military has conducted several strikes targeting ISIS leaders in Syria in recent years.
It announced in mid-April that it had “probably” killed in northern Syria the leader of a jihadist group who was planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East.
US Middle East Command (Centcom) identified it as a senior ISIL commander in Syria, codenamed Abd al-Hadi Mahmoud al-Haj Ali.
Despite its defeat on the ground, the Islamic State continues to stage attacks in Syria.
At least 41 people, including 24 civilians, were killed on April 16 in the country in two attacks attributed to the jihadist group against truffle collectors and herders.
In early April, the US military announced that it had killed the ISIS leader responsible for attacks in Europe, whom it identified as Khaled Eid Ahmed al-Jabouri.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Europe during its rule, when it took control of large areas in Syria and Iraq.
In October 2019, Washington announced that the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed during an American operation. His successors were killed in Syria in February and November 2022.
