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Islamic State fighter (ISIS; ISIL) waving a flag while standing on captured government fighter jet in Raqqa, Syria, 2015.
y: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Grou
- The United States military says it has killed a leader of the ISIS.
- It said a drone strike in eastern Syria resulted in the death of Osama al-Muhajer.
- “We have made it clear that we remain committed to the defeat of ISIS throughout the region,” said US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla.
The US Central Command said on Sunday it conducted a drone strike on July 7 that killed an ISIS leader in Eastern Syria.
It
used the same MQ-9 drones in the attack that had “earlier in the day
been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost
two hours”, it said in a statement.
“US
Central Command conducted a strike in Syria that resulted in the death
of Usamah al-Muhajir, an ISIS leader in eastern Syria,” it said without
giving any more details on al-Muhajir.
Washington
has in the last year stepped up raids and operations against suspected
ISIS operatives in Syria, killing and arresting various of its leaders
who had taken shelter in areas under Turkey-backed rebel control after
the group lost its last territory in Syria in 2019.
The
US-led campaign which killed former ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi,
who had declared himself the “caliph of all Muslims”, has since targeted
its surviving leaders, many of whom are thought to have planned attacks
abroad.
U.S.
military commanders say ISIS remains a significant threat within the
region, however, though its capabilities have been degraded and its
ability to re-establish its network weakened.
Islamic
State controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria at its peak in 2014.
Though it was beaten back in both countries, its militants continue to
wage insurgent attacks.
We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
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