ISTANBUL — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan mentioned Sunday that Turkish intelligence forces had killed Islamic State chief Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria.
“This particular person was neutralized as a part of an operation by the Turkish nationwide intelligence group in Syria yesterday,” Erdogan mentioned in an interview with TRT Turk broadcaster.
Erdogan mentioned the intelligence group had pursued Qurashi for a very long time.
Syrian native and safety sources mentioned the raid happened within the northern Syrian city of Jandaris, which is managed by Turkey-backed insurgent teams and was one of many worst-affected within the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit each Turkey and Syria.
The Syrian Nationwide Military, an opposition faction with a safety presence within the space, didn’t instantly remark.
One resident mentioned clashes began on the sting of Jandaris in a single day from Saturday into Sunday, lasting for about an hour earlier than residents heard a big explosion.
The realm was later encircled by safety forces to stop anybody from approaching the realm.
IS chosen al-Qurashi as its chief in November 2022 after the earlier IS chief was killed in an operation in southern Syria.
Islamic State took over huge swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and its head on the time, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared an Islamic caliphate throughout territory that housed tens of millions.
However IS misplaced its grip on the territory after campaigns by U.S.-backed forces in Syria and Iraq, in addition to Syrian forces backed by Iran, Russia and varied paramilitaries.
Its remaining 1000’s of militants have in recent times principally hid out in distant hinterlands of each international locations, although they’re nonetheless able to finishing up main hit-and-run assaults.
The U.S.-led coalition alongside a Kurdish-led alliance generally known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continues to be finishing up raids towards IS officers in Syria.
In some instances, senior IS figures have been focused whereas hiding out in areas the place Turkey has main affect.