“Perceived leader” of a jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) “neutralized” yesterday Saturday at Syria during an operation carried out by the Turkish special services, its president said on Sunday Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The alleged leader of ISIS, known under the pseudonym Abu Hussein al-Qurasi, was neutralized in an operation carried out yesterday. [σ.σ. προχθές Σάββατο] from MIT [την τουρκική υπηρεσία πληροφοριών] in Syria,” the Turkish leader said in an interview with the state television channel TRT Türk.

Mr. Erdogan said the Turkish intelligence agency had been following the IS leader for a “long time” but refrained from providing more details about the operation.

On November 30, ISIS announced the death of its previous leader, Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurasi, without specifying how he died.

He was replaced by Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurasi, who had joined the jihadist group at the time.

According to an AFP correspondent in northern Syria, Turkish intelligence and a local armed group, backed by Ankara, blocked off an area north of the Jadairis community in the Afrin region (northwest) on Saturday, about ten kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border.

Interviewed residents of the area said that an operation was carried out against an abandoned farm, where an Islamic seminary used to operate.

Turkey has deployed troops in various sectors of northern Syria since 2020, while controlling large areas through Syrian proxies of the Turkish military, organizations that have been involved in the war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

In recent years, the US military has carried out several operations against ISIS leaders in Syria.

In mid-April, he announced that he had “probably” killed one of the leaders of a jihadist organization planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East during his operation in northern Syria.

The United States Joint Headquarters in charge of the Middle East, “Central Command” (CENTCOM), specified that it was Abdel Hadi Mahmoud al-Haji Ali, who he said was a leading ISIS figure stationed in Syrian territory.

Despite the repeated military defeats it has suffered from attacks everywhere and the loss of territory it held in Syria and Iraq, IS continues to carry out deadly attacks.

At least 41 people, including 24 civilians, were killed April 16 in Syria in two attacks attributed to a jihadist group against truffle pickers and livestock farmers.

In early April, the US military announced that they had killed another ISIS leader responsible for attacks in Europe, whom they identified as Khaled Eid Ahmad al-Jaburi.

IS claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Europe at the height of its power, when its “caliphate” extended into the vast territories of Syria and Iraq.

In October 2019, Washington announced the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US operation. Two of his successors were killed in Syria in February and November 2022.

^{Source: APE, AFP, Reuters, dpa.}