United State Syria Military Raid
ATMEH, Syria (AP) — A U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday killed the top leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, President Joe Biden said.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS,” Biden said in a statement. He said all Americans involved in the operation returned safely.
Biden said he would address the American people later Thursday on the raid.
U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon originally said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria. First responders at the scene reported 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
The operation, which residents say lasted over two hours early Thursday, jolted the sleepy village of Atmeh near the Turkish border — an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war. The target of the raid was unclear.
“The mission was successful,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement. “There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
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