ISIS leader “The Professor” has been killed in a US Special-Ops raid in Syria as Joe Biden hails it a success after women and kids were among 13 dead.
The White House confirmed ISIS boss Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed during the raid.
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In a statement, President Joe Biden said: “Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in the northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place
“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. All Americans have returned safely from the operation.
“May God protect our troops.”
At least 13 people were killed, including six children and four women, when US special forces swooped in on a home in northwestern Syria on Thursday.
The operation – which residents say lasted over two hours – took place in Atmeh, a sleepy village near the border with Turkey that is home to thousands of Syrian refugees.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby branded the counter-terror a “success” and said no US troops were harmed.
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It comes as haunting images emerge of body parts scattered around the site which was a home located in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province.
Jamil el-Deddo, a resident at a nearby refugee camp, told the AP: “The first moments were terrifying, no one knew what was happening.
“We were worried it could be Syrian aircraft, which brought back memories of barrel bombs that used to be dropped on us.”
The top floor of the house was almost completely destroyed with the ceiling and walls knocked out.
Blood could also be seen on the walls and floor of the remaining structure and a bedroom with a child’s wooden crib on the floor.
On another damaged wall, a blue plastic children’s swing was still hanging and a nearby kitchen was blackened with fire damage.
Other residents – who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals – said they heard helicopters, explosions and machine-gun fire.
This was the largest raid in the province since the 2019 Trump-era U.S. assault that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Idlib is broadly controlled by Turkey-backed fighters, but is also an al-Qaida stronghold and home to several of its top operatives.
Other militants, including extremists from the rival IS group, have also found refuge in the region.
The Syrian Civil Defense and first responders known as the White Helmets confirmed 13 people were killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after U.S. the commando raid. They included six children and four women, it said.
The Pentagon provided no details on who was the target of the raid, or if any combatants or civilians on the ground were killed or injured.
Witnesses described seeing a large ground assault, with U.S. forces using megaphones urging women and children to leave the area.
Omar Saleh, a nearby resident, said the doors and windows of his house started to rattle to the sound of low-flying aircraft at 1:10 a.m. local time.
He then heard a man, speaking Arabic with an Iraqi or Saudi accent through a loudspeaker, urging women to surrender or leave the area.
This went on for 45 minutes. There was no response. Then the machine gun fire erupted, Saleh said. He said the firing continued for two hours, as aircraft circled low over the area.
We were worried it could be Syrian aircraft, which brought back memories of barrel bombs that used to be dropped on us
Atmeh resident Jamil el-Deddo
Others reported hearing at least one major explosion during the operation.
A U.S. official said that one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops for the U.S.-led coalition using helicopters landed in the area and attacked a house. It said the force clashed with fighters on the ground.
The military operation got attention on social media, with tweets from the region describing helicopters firing around the building near Atmeh.
The U.S. has in the past used drones to kill top al-Qaida operatives in Idlib, which at one point was home to the groups biggest concentration of leaders since the days of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The fact that special forces landed on the ground suggest the target was believed to be of high value.
A similar attack in Pakistan, in 2011, killed bin Laden.
Thursday’s clandestine operation came as the Islamic State group was reasserting itself in Syria and Iraq, carrying out some of its biggest attacks since it was defeated in 2019.
In recent weeks and months, the group has launched a series of operations in the region, including a 10-day assault late last month to seize a prison in northeastern Syria.
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