The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed the death of Islamic State leader Abu al-Hassan al-Qurashi, saying he was killed during a Free Syrian Army (FSA) operation in Dar’a, Syria, in mid-October of this year. Earlier today, the Islamic State announced through its media channels that al-Qurashi was “killed in action,” but did not provide specifics.
CENTCOM confirms that the IS leader al-Qurayshi was killed in mid Oct during “an operation conducted by the Free Syrian Army in Daraa” pic.twitter.com/N9Nu488d8p
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) November 30, 2022
The FSA, however, has not had a presence in Dar’a in years. Over the past several weeks, intense clashes have broken out in Dar’a between ISIS-linked groups and the “Eighth Brigade,” which is a Russian-backed fighting group made of former FSA rebels who reconciled with the Syrian government in 2018. With that, it is likely that former FSA fighters were involved with the operation.
This leaves the question as to who the high ranking ISIS suspect being held by Turkey as he was suspected to be Abu al-Hassan al-Qurashi up until this latest announcement?
