(Dan Tri) – The US military announced that the leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in Syria was killed in an airstrike.

The house where IS supreme leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was raided by US special forces in Syria in February 2022 (Photo: Reuters).

In a statement today, July 12, the US Central Command said Maher al-Agal, the leader of IS in Syria, was killed in a drone attack in northwest Syria.

`Extended plans have been implemented to ensure  successful implementation. Initial assessment indicates no civilian casualties,` the statement added.

The US Central Command believes that al-Agal is responsible for developing the IS network outside Iraq and Syria.

The airstrike that destroyed Maher al-Agal is the next major blow to IS’s efforts to reorganize into a guerrilla force after losing much territory.

The US-led international coalition announced in June that it had captured a senior IS leader in Syria in a raid operation.

The US coalition has been conducting attacks and raids against IS members in Syria for many years.

The raid took place in a residential area in Atmeh near the border between Syria and Türkiye.

Al-Quraishi, 45 years old, became the leader of IS after his predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US attack in northwest Syria in 2019. Since then, al-Qurayshi has been quite secretive,

According to US officials, al-Quraishi was behind the attack on the Yazidi minority in 2014. Al-Quraishi has been considered a global terrorist by the US since 2020 with a reward of up to 10 million USD.

An IS spokesman in March confirmed the death of leader Abu Ibrahim Al-hashemi Al-Quraishi and announced a new leader on IS’s al-Furqan channel.

Officials in President Biden’s administration said this campaign has been prepared for many months and Mr. Biden ordered the operation to be carried out in a meeting on the morning of February 1 with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the President of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Information about casualties in the raid to destroy al-Quraishi is still controversial.