A Syrian official claimed that the Joe Biden-led US government had broken international law with the raid in which the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was reportedly killed. 

Aliaa Ali, third secretary of the Syrian permanent mission to the United Nations (UN) said, “The recent U.S. raid is another flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, as it was carried out on Syrian soil without coordination or approval of the Syrian government”, as per Newsweek. 

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Ali also criticized reports for calling the mission a success, wherein 13 people, including civilians, had died. She said, “Such a raid which resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, necessitates ensuring accountability and avoiding impunity. Ironically, the U.S. Department of Defense claimed in a statement that ‘Special Forces carried out a successful mission in Idlib.’ Describing a mission that resulted in 13 civilian casualties, including women and children as successful makes us wonder how many lives would have been lost if the mission failed”. 

Soon after US President Biden broke the news of the ISIS leader’s death, a senior official confirmed that there had been civilian casualties. However, the blame was placed at the dead ISIS leader’s doorstep, saying that the cornered al-Qurayshi had detonated an explosive, killing an innocent family living in the same building where the ISIS head was hiding, in the village of Atmeh. 

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The official said, “All casualties at the site were due to the acts of ISIS terrorists and inside the residence, including Hajji Abdullah, who set off his charge, destroying much of the third floor. An associate of Hajji Abdullah, another ISIS terrorist and ISIS lieutenant, barricaded himself and members of his own family in the second floor. He and his wife engaged the assault force. They were killed in the course of the operation.” 

Biden also urged the Department of Defense to take all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. 

While the US has accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of human rights violations, Syria has denied these accusations. Instead, they’ve said that fight against ISIS, led by the US, doesn’t have coordination with Damascus after Washington severed ties when the civil war in Syria broke out. 

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Ali pointed fingers at the US government, saying, “The claim of ‘eliminating ISIS’ for several years now, without being actually eliminated proves that the U.S. uses the pretext of ‘combating terrorism’ in order to achieve its hostile agendas against Syria”.