US, Iraqi forces kill top Islamic State commander in joint operation

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces and American troops have killed a senior commander with the Islamic State group who was needed by the USA, in addition to a number of different outstanding militants, Iraq’s navy mentioned Friday.

The operation in Iraq’s western Anbar province started in late August, the Iraqi navy mentioned, and concerned additionally members of the Iraqi Nationwide Intelligence Service and Iraq’s air drive.

Among the many lifeless was an IS commander from Tunisia, referred to as Abu Ali Al-Tunisi, for whom the U.S. Treasury Division had supplied $5 million for data. Additionally killed was Ahmad Hamed Zwein, the IS deputy commander in Iraq.

Regardless of their defeat, assaults by IS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the previous years, with scores of individuals killed or wounded.

Friday’s announcement was not the primary information of the operation.

Two weeks in the past, official has mentioned that the USA navy and Iraq launched a joint raid focusing on suspected IS militants within the nation’s western desert that killed not less than 15 folks and left seven American troops damage.

5 of the American troops had been wounded within the raid itself, whereas two others suffered accidents from falls in the course of the operation. One who suffered a fall was transported out of the area, whereas one of many wounded was evacuated for additional remedy, a U.S. protection official mentioned on the time, talking on situation of anonymity to debate particulars of the operation that had not but been made public.

In Friday’s announcement, the Iraqi navy mentioned the operation additionally confiscated weapons and computer systems, good telephones and 10 explosive belts. It added that 14 IS commanders had been recognized after DNA assessments had been performed. It made no point out of the fifteenth individual killed and whether or not that individual had additionally been recognized.

The Islamic State group seized territory on the peak of its energy and declared a caliphate in massive elements of Iraq and Syria in 2014 however was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists misplaced the final sliver of land they as soon as managed in jap Syria.

At its peak, the group dominated an space half the dimensions of the UK the place it enforced its excessive interpretation of Islam, which included assaults on non secular minority teams and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to be apostates.

Regardless of their defeat, assaults by IS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the previous years, killing and wounding scores of individuals.

The U.S. navy has not commented on the August raid.

Earlier Friday, the U.S. Central Command mentioned its forces killed an IS assault cell member in a strike in jap Syria. It added that the person was planting an improvised explosive machine for a deliberate assault in opposition to anti-IS coalition forces and their companions, an obvious reference to Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

In August final yr, the U.S. had agreed to enter into talks to transition U.S. and anti-IS coalition forces from their long-standing position in helping Iraq in combating IS. There are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops within the nation, and their departure will keep in mind the safety state of affairs on the bottom, and the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces.

Mroue reported from Beirut.