The United States hoped to capture Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al Qurashi, but he detonated a bomb, killing himself and his family to prevent that from happening.
Early Thursday morning, U.S. special forces operators touched down in northwestern Syria and descended upon a residential area in which the leader, who was also known as Hajii Abdullah, had holed up with a lieutenant surrounded by civilians. The troops were able to evacuate some of the civilians in the building, using a bullhorn to encourage them to surrender, but al Qurashi and his lieutenant, whose name has not been released, had other plans.
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The underling and his wife fired upon U.S. forces and were subsequently killed, while al Qurashi did not put up a fight, instead choosing to end his own life.
“We had hoped to be able to capture Abdullah alive and that we figured would require some doing, including the fact that he would resist or fight back, which of course, his lieutenant did, even though he decided not to fight back,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told NPR on Friday, a day after the raid.
The special operations forces were able to confirm al Qurashi’s death using “fingerprints and DNA analysis,” the former of which occurred on-site, Kirby told reporters during a briefing the day of the raid.
The U.S. absolved itself of wrongdoing and the civilian casualties that occurred, saying that al Qurashi’s blast killed others, but the number of such victims remains up for debate.
The Syrian White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defense, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights both said that 13 civilian victims were found at the site, including children and women, while Kirby told reporters they had only confirmed three civilian deaths. The spokesman identified those who were killed as the leader’s wife and children.
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“We’re very confident that the explosion on the third floor happened well before the assaulting force even got into the building,” he told the outlet. “Certainly, there was no airstrike conducted. It was definitely the result of Mr. Abdullah’s hands.”
President Joe Biden said in an address that he had chosen a raid, which is much riskier, over an airstrike because there was a possibility for civilian casualties, which has beleaguered the Department of Defense recently. Airstrikes also would not have allowed him to be taken alive.
