What Happened?
A two-year manhunt for Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, leader of the terrorist group ISIS, ended on Thursday, February 3rd after a U.S. raid. The raid took place in a three-story house rendered by al-Quarayshi and his family in Syria. The mission comes after intelligence was tipped off after a man missing a right leg was spotted on the rooftop of the building months prior. The leg, which al-Qurayshi lost in a previous U.S. airstrike in 2015, led to his identification. In an attempt to minimize civilian casualties, President Biden ordered that Al- Qurayshi be taken into custody rather than killed.
According to an account given by a neighbor of the compound, military translators attempted to convince the women and children living in the lower levels of the building to evacuate and surrender. However, upon being found, Al-Qurayshi detonated a bomb, killing both himself, his family, and civilians nearby. All U.S. service members participating in the mission returned home safely. In Biden’s address on Thursday, he referred to this act as Al-Qurayshi’s “final act of desperate cowardice”. Although U.S. forces were able to evacuate 10 civilians from the building, rescue workers reported, at least 13 people were killed during the operation.
Who was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al- Qurayshi?
Al Qurayshi, whose real name was Ami Mohammed Saeed Abdul-Rahman al-Mawla, was born in 1976 and believed to be from the northern Iraqi town Tel Afar. Al Qurayshi was of Turkmen descent and in his mid-40s. In terms of education, he earned a degree in Islamic law from the University of Mosul. After the death of his predecessor, Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi, in October 2019 during a U.S. raid, Al-Qurayshi was named leader of the organization. Recently ISIS militants had begun to carry out higher-profile attacks.
According to President Biden and The White House, Al-Qurayshi was directly responsible for a recent attack on a Northeast Syrian prison that resulted in a ten-day battle that left over 500 people, including women and children, dead. Additionally, he is a key, active supporter of the genocide of the Yazidi people that sold thousands of women and children into slavery, forced men and boys into military service, and ultimately, had a large death toll.
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