US strike kills ‘ISIS senior leader’ in Syria

(TAMPA, Fla.) — U.S. forces killed an “ISIS senior leader” in a strike in northwest Syria on Monday, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

The military identified the leader as Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad Al-Jabouri, who it said was responsible for planning attacks into Europe and Turkey, and developing ISIS’s leadership network.

“The death of Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks,” a release from CENTCOM said.

But ISIS still poses a serious threat, according to CENTCOM Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla.

“Though degraded, the group remains able to conduct operations within the region with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East,” Kurilla said in a statement.

The U.S. has roughly 900 troops in Syria as part of its effort to defeat ISIS in the region. In recent years American forces have killed or captured several ISIS leaders in the country.

In early February, President Joe Biden approved a daring ground raid in northeast Syria that killed the global leader of ISIS, known as Haji Abdullah. On Feb. 16, four U.S. troops and a service dog were injured in another raid when their target, a senior Islamic State group leader who was killed in the operation, set off an explosion, according to officials.

While U.S. forces are primarily in Syria to fight ISIS, they are also under near-constant attack by what the Pentagon calls Iran-backed militant groups. Late last month attacks by these groups killed one American contractor, injured another, and wounded at least 12 service members, according to defense officials. There have been close to 80 such attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Syria since 2021, according to Kurilla.

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