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Joe Biden says US raid in Syria targeted leader of Daesh
The Arab News reported, according to Reuters, US President Joe Biden said a US special forces counter-terrorism raid in northwest Syria on Thursday targeted the leader of Daesh, adding he would address the operation in remarks later on Thursday.
Biden said in a statement: “Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurayshi — the leader of Daesh. All Americans have returned safely from the operation."
A senior US administration official told Reuters Al-Quraishi was killed in the raid.
The administration official said: “At the beginning of the operation the terrorist target exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children."
After the killing of Daesh founder Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in October 2019, the group named as his successor Al-Quraishi, an Iraqi who was once held in US custody.
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The official said: “While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated Al-Baghdadi."
The White House said that Biden planned to deliver remarks on the Syria operation at 9:30 a.m. ET/1430 GMT.
Source: arabnews
