CAIRO/AMMAN—U.S. forces said they conducted a drone strike in eastern Syria on July 7 that killed an ISIS leader.
The strike utilized the same MQ-9 drones that had “earlier in the day been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a statement on July 9.
“U.S. Central Command conducted a strike in Syria that resulted in the death of Usamah al-Muhajir, an ISIS leader in eastern Syria,” it said without giving any more details on al-Muhajir.
Washington has in the past year stepped up raids and operations against suspected ISIS terrorist group’s operatives in Syria, killing and arresting various of its leaders who had taken shelter in areas under Turkey-backed rebel control after the group lost its last territory in Syria in 2019.
The U.S.-led campaign that killed former ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who had declared himself the “caliph of all Muslims,” has since targeted its surviving leaders, many of whom are thought to have planned attacks abroad.
U.S. military commanders say the ISIS terrorist group remains a significant threat within the region, however, though its capabilities have been degraded and its ability to reestablish its network weakened.
ISIS controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria at its peak in 2014. While the group was beaten back in both countries, its members continue to wage terrorist attacks.
