US kills Daesh leader in Syria drone strike
- 12 Jul 2022
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it killed a leader of the Daesh in Syria in a drone strike.
US Central Command said in a news release that Maher Al Agal was killed on Tuesday and an unidentified senior official in the Daesh was seriously injured.
The Pentagon says there were no civilian casualties, though it wasn't possible to immediately confirm that information.
The US carried out the strike outside Jindaris, a town in northwest Syria close to the Turkish border.
The Daesh at the height of its power controlled more than 40,000 square miles stretching from Syria to Iraq and ruled over 8 million people.
While the group's territorial state collapsed in 2019, its leaders have turned to guerilla tactics and been able to "efficiently restructure themselves organizationally,” according to the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonpartisan think tank.
The strike on Al-Agal comes months after the head of the group, Abu Ibrahim Al Hashimi al-Qurayshi, killed himself during a raid of his hideout by American special forces.
The US said Al-Qurayshi blew himself up along with members of his family.
Associated Press