“The Iraqis proceed their spectacular victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani mentioned in a press release posted on X, previously often called Twitter.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of the militant group and as “one of the most harmful terrorists in Iraq and the world,” the assertion mentioned.
On his Reality Social platform Friday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned: “Immediately the fugitive chief of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters” in coordination with the Iraqi authorities and the Kurdish regional authorities.
“PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” Trump posted.
A safety official mentioned the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official mentioned the operation came about Thursday evening however that al-Rifai’s demise was confirmed Friday. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to remark publicly. The announcement got here on the identical day as the first go to by Syria’s high diplomat to Iraq, throughout which the two international locations pledged to work collectively to fight IS. Iraqi International Minister Fouad Hussein mentioned at a information convention that “there are frequent challenges going through Syrian and Iraqi society, and particularly the terrorists of IS.” He mentioned the officers had spoken “in element about the actions of ISIS, whether or not on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or inside Iraq” throughout the go to.
Hussein referred to an operations room shaped by Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon at a latest assembly in Amman to confront IS, and mentioned it will quickly start work.
The connection between Iraq and Syria is considerably fraught after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Al-Sudani got here to energy with the assist of a coalition of Iran-backed factions, and Tehran was a serious backer of Assad. The present interim president of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was beforehand often called Abu Mohammed al-Golani and fought as an al-Qaida militant in Iraq after the U.S. invasion of 2003, and later fought towards Assad’s authorities in Syria.
However Syrian interim International Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani centered on the historic ties between the two international locations.
“All through historical past, Baghdad and Damascus have been the capitals of the Arab and Islamic world, sharing data, tradition and financial system,” he mentioned.
Strengthening the partnership between the two international locations “is not going to solely profit our peoples, however can even contribute to the stability of the area, making us much less depending on exterior powers and higher capable of decide our personal future,” he mentioned.
The operation and the go to come at a time when Iraqi officers are anxious about an IS resurgence in the wake of the fall of Assad in Syria.
Whereas Syria’s new rulers – led by the Islamist former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – have pursued IS cells since taking energy, some concern a breakdown in total safety that would enable the group to stage a resurgence.
The U.S. and Iraq introduced an settlement final 12 months to wind down the navy mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition preventing the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases the place they’ve stationed troops throughout a two-decade-long navy presence in the nation.
When the settlement was reached to finish the coalition’s mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders mentioned the risk of IS was below management and they not wanted Washington’s assist to beat again the remaining cells.
However the fall of Assad in December led some to reassess that stance, together with members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-allied political events that introduced present Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to energy in late 2022.
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