Trump reports that US and Iraqi forces neutralized ISIS leader

President Donald Trump reported Friday on Truth Social that the leader of the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, was neutralized along with another member of the jihadist organization by a team of U.S. Army and Iraqi Armed Forces troops. "Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!" Trump tweeted.

For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani confirmed the elimination of the jihadist terrorist, who was known as the "deputy caliph" of ISIS and one of the world's most wanted terrorists. In a statement, the Iraqi leader noted that the operation is a victory for all of Iraq, further assuring that "Iraqis continue to win impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism."

Airstrike

At a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein commented that the operation against al-Rifai was carried out through an airstrike in the province of Anbar after the terrorist escaped from custody and spent several days on the run. Once Iraqi intelligence sources determined the location where the ISIS leader was hiding in the country and in Syria, they notified their U.S. allies to begin the operation, which went into effect Thursday night.

In his statements to the media, Hussein stressed that "there are common challenges facing the Syrian and Iraqi societies, especially the threat of the Islamic State." Similarly, the minister explained that the governments of Iraq, the United States and Syria have had meetings in which they have discussed in detail "the movements of ISIS, whether on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or in Iraq." Hussein also revealed that the Iraqi government was setting up a joint operations room between Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Iraq to combat ISIS.