So far, the US has refused to back up Turkey’s claims that its forces killed the current leader of the Islamic State terror group following an operation in northern Syria.
During an interview with Turkish television TRT on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that IS leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi “was neutralized as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organization in Syria [Saturday].”
The operation, according to Turkish media citing security sources, took place in the northern Syrian town of Jandaris, in a territory controlled by Turkish-backed rebel forces, and the IS leader had been under surveillance for some time.
A U.S. official, speaking to pressmen on the condition of anonymity, said that so far Washington has seen nothing to suggest the Islamic State leader has indeed been killed.
“We are unable to confirm this,” the official said. “Furthermore, we have no information that would support this claim.”
Little is known about IS leader Abu al-Hussein beyond his kunya, or nom-du-guerre.
His name was first mentioned in November, when the terror group named him as the new IS head in the same statement that reported the death of his predecessor, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
According to US officials, Abu al-Hussein, unlike his predecessors, is not part of the group that created IS and is instead among the first of a new generation of commanders determining the terror organisation’s direction.
Intelligence shared by the US and UN member states in a series of public reports over the last year indicates that IS leaders, such as Abu al-Hussein, have been trying to keep low profiles in order to avoid counterterrorism pressure, which has resulted in the death or capture of at least 13 senior officials since early 2022.
This includes the death of a crucial, senior IS official in a US raid in northern Syria last month. According to US military officials, Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was in charge of organizing strikes in Europe and was overseeing a scheme to kidnap foreign officials at the time of his death.
The execution of the IS leader announced on Sunday is not the first time Turkey has claimed a major win in the war against IS.
Turkish security officers announced in May that they had apprehended Abu al-Hussein’s predecessor during an Istanbul raid.
Later, US and Western intelligence officials determined that the claim was exaggerated, and that the captured IS official was Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al Sumaidai, the organization’s senior leader.
Erdogan is running for reelection in Turkey, and voters will go to the polls on May 14.
Opinion polls indicate him facing a difficult reelection campaign, and he recently canceled a series of campaign appearances due to an intestinal ailment.