ISIS confirmed the death of its leader and announced a replacement, apparently corroborating U.S. claims that Abu Ibrahim al Hashemi al Quraishi was killed in Syria last month.
The terrorist group announced on its social media accounts that it appointed Abu al Hassan al Hashemi al Quraishi to become its new caliph but did not disclose many details about him, according to multiple reports.
Abu Ibrahim al Hashemi al Quraishi died after the U.S. military targeted him in an early morning operation in Syria in early February, officials said.
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“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 ISIS,” President Joe Biden said last month in a statement. “All Americans have returned safely from the operation. I will deliver remarks to the American people later this morning. May God protect our troops.”
Shellings and explosions detonated before U.S. forces targeted a two-story house along the Syrian-Turkish border of Atmeh, news reports said. ISIS did not confirm or deny details of his death and only said he died last month.
ISIS’s audio message confirming the leadership change came from the terror group’s new spokesperson, Abu Umar al Muhajir, who also confirmed the death of his predecessor, Abu Hamza al Quraishi.
Both of Abu al Hassan al Hashemi al Quraishi’s predecessors — Abu Ibrahim al Hashemi al Quraishi and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who was killed in a 2019 raid — were Iraqi. Abu Ibrahim al Hashemi al Quraishi was previously a soldier in former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s military before joining ISIS, Reuters reported.
Experts do not believe Abu al Hassan al Hashemi al Quraishi is the real name of the new ISIS caliph, according to the New York Times. The terrorist group is likely concealing its new leader’s name to defend against his death or capture, experts suggest.
Despite sharing the same purported last names, the new leader is not believed to be related to his predecessor. “Al Qurayshi” comes from the name of the tribe Quraish that the Prophet Muhammad belonged to, al Jazeera reported.
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The United States and a coalition of forces have decimated ISIS’s grip in Iraq and Syria in recent years. ISIS once held a caliphate nearly the size of the United Kingdom, per the New York Times. The terror group has since been largely reduced to isolated parts of the Middle East.
Still, countering ISIS remains a top priority among U.S. defense officials who want to prevent any opportunity for the group to resurge.
