The US military says a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) terror group who was responsible for planning attacks in Europe has been killed in a strike in Syria.
Press release issued by the US Central Command on April 4 says “U.S. Central Command forces conducted a unilateral strike in Syria today killing Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, an ISIS senior leader.” US Central Command says “Khalid Aydd Ahmed al-Jabouri was responsible for planning ISIS attacks in Türkiye and Europe and developed the leadership structure for ISIS in Türkiye.”
“ISIS continues to represent a threat to the region and beyond,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the CENTCOM commander. “Though degraded, the group remains able to conduct operations within the region with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East.”
No civilians were reportedly killed or injured in this strike.
CENTCOM added that the death of Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks.
The BBC says first responders reportedly said a man was killed in a drone strike on Monday in opposition-held north-western Syria.
According to the BBC, pro-opposition outlet Enab Baladi reported that the man had arrived in the area 10 days earlier and that he had been speaking on a mobile phone when he was targeted with a Hellfire missile.
The BBC further noted that ISIS had not commented on the US announcement nor had its online supporters discussed it. Khalid al-Jabouri had not been publicly identified in the group's propaganda, according to the BBC.
The US-led multinational coalition against IS has reportedly carried out a series of strikes in northern Syria in recent months targeting senior members of IS and Hurras al-Din, which is believed to be al-Qaeda's Syria branch.
