SOHR: Syria confirms man killed in October was Daesh chief
A Daesh commander killed in Syria in October was the group’s overall leader, a Syrian security source was quoted as saying on Friday by pro-regime media.
The source, quoted by SANA news agency, credited the army and local groups with the operation that led to the death of Daesh chief Abu Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi.
Daesh on Wednesday said he died in battle and announced a replacement to head up its remaining sleeper cells.
The US military’s Central Command said Al-Hashimi was killed in an operation carried out by Syrian fighters in Daraa province in the country’s south in mid-October, but said the US provided no support.
In mid-October, Damascus said it had launched a joint operation against Daesh with former rebels in the province.
FASTFACT
The US military’s Central Command said Abu Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi was killed in an operation carried out by Syrian fighters in Daraa province in the country’s south in mid-October, but said the US provided no support.
At the time, SANA identified one of the slain extremists as Abu Abdel Rahman Al-Iraqi.
The security source told the agency that Al-Hashimi “is the same person known as Abdel Rahman Al-Iraqi.”
He was “killed during a security operation” against Daesh carried out by “the Syrian army with local groups” in the city of Jassem on Oct. 15, the security source said.
Daraa province was the cradle of Syria’s 2011 uprising but it returned to regime control in 2018 under a ceasefire deal backed by Russia, which supports the government. The fighters were allowed to keep light weapons.
The province has seen years of security chaos, including killings and clashes, and Daesh terrorists have also claimed attacks there.
A fighter who took part in the operation had told AFP there was “an exchange of information” between rebels and the regime to “identify the houses where the jihadists were hiding.”
“Nobody told us that the Daesh chief was among them,” the fighter had said. Abu Abdel Rahman al-Iraqi was among the jihadists killed in the fighting, he added.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, said Iraqi blew himself up in a house where he was dug in after family members left the building.
Source: Arab News