Who was ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi?

United States President Joe Biden announced the death of the Islamic State group leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, during an overnight raid in Syria on Thursday.

“Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation. Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS,” Biden said in a statement. All Americans involved in the operation, he claimed, were safe.

A senior US official said Qurayshi had blown himself up during a nighttime airborne raid by US special forces in northwestern Syria. 

Observatory chief Rami Abdel told AFP, “Thirteen people at least were killed, among them four children and three women, during the operation.”

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It was the biggest raid in the Idlib region of the province since the US assassination of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019. 

Who was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi?

The Islamic group had named Qurayshi as Baghdadi’s successor in an audio message issued by its Amaq news agency.

“He is a flag of the flags of jihad, and a scholar of its scholars, and an emir of the emirs of war,” the voice said, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence, which monitors jihadist communications, according to an article in VOA News. 

The audio also sent a message to the United States, saying: “Do not rejoice America. The new chosen one will make you forget the horror you have beholden … and make the achievements of the Baghdadi days taste sweet.”

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Qurayshi,

born Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, is a religious scholar who rose through the ranks to become one of the most significant minds behind the slaughter of the Yazidi religious minority, according to media reports. He was born into an Iraqi Turkmen family in the town of Tal Afar, making him one of the few non-Arabs among the leadership. He holds a degree in sharia law from the University of Mosul.

Qurayshi was described as “the scholar, the worker, the worshiper”, a “prominent figure in jihad”, and an “emir of war”. 

In 2004, he was detained by US forces in Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq where he met Baghdadi, reported The Guardian.

The US government had even offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Qurayshi.

(With agency inputs)