The U.S. military believes it has identified four high-profile suspects from a group of 14 ISIS terrorists killed during an operation last month in western Iraq.
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces and Iraqi Security Forces conducted a partnered raid in Western Iraq that resulted in the death of 14 ISIS operatives on 29 August,” CENTCOM said in a press statement on Sept. 13.
“This operation targeted ISIS leaders and served to disrupt and degrade ISIS’ ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as U.S. citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond.”
CENTCOM, which oversees military operations across the Middle East, said it can now confirm that four leaders of the ISIS terrorist group were among those killed in last month’s raid. The U.S. military component identified the four as Ahmad Hamid Husayn Abd-al-Jalil al-Ithawi, Abu Hammam, Abu-‘Ali al-Tunisi, and Ahmad al-Issawi.
CENTCOM assessed al-Ithawi was responsible for ISIS operations in Iraq. CENTCOM further assessed Hammam was a regional head for the terrorist group and oversaw its activities in western Iraq.
According to CENTCOM, al-Tunisi oversaw technical developments for ISIS, while al-Issawi handled its military operations in western Iraq.
“CENTCOM remains committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS, who continues to threaten the United States, our allies and partners, and regional stability,” CENTCOM’s commander, Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, said in a statement accompanying the Sept. 13 announcement.
U.S. forces are deployed throughout Iraq and Syria as part of the ongoing mission to defeat ISIS and prevent its resurgence in the region.
At its peak, ISIS asserted claims over broad swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory. U.S. and coalition forces ousted ISIS from its last major territorial stronghold in al-Baghuz Fawqani, Syria, in March 2019. Since then, ISIS has been scattered throughout the region and, according to U.S. military officials, seeks to reorganize once more.
The Aug. 29 CENTCOM raid in western Iraq occurred on the same day five suspected ISIS sympathizers escaped from the detention facility in which they were being held, near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.
In its July report, CENTCOM estimated around 2,500 ISIS members remain at large across Iraq and Syria.
U.S. military leaders remain concerned that ISIS’s at-large component will try to free its detained members and recruit refugees and sympathizers being held at camps run by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) aligned with the United States.
“Over 9,000 ISIS detainees remain in over 20 SDF detention facilities in Syria, a literal and figurative ‘ISIS Army’ in detention,” Kurilla said earlier this month. “If a large number of these ISIS fighters escaped, it would pose an extreme danger to the region and beyond.”
The United States has taken steps to repatriate U.S. nationals from Syria, and has urged other western nations to do the same, so as to separate ISIS from its potential recruiting targets.
“We will continue to work with the international community to repatriate these ISIS fighters to their countries of origin for final adjudication,” Kurilla said last week.
