The chief of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed, Iraq’s prime minister introduced on Friday.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi nationwide intelligence service together with U.S.-led coalition forces, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani mentioned in a press release.
The prime minister described al-Rifai as “probably the most harmful terrorists in Iraq and the world.”
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the information on his social media platform Fact Social, saying al-Rifai’s “depressing life was terminated.”
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Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani described al-Rifai as “probably the most harmful terrorists in Iraq and the world.” (AP)
“At the moment the fugitive chief of ISIS in Iraq was killed,” Trump wrote Friday night time. “He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His depressing life was terminated, together with one other member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Authorities and the Kurdish Regional Authorities.”
“PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” the president added.
U.S. Central Command mentioned in a press release that its forces, in cooperation with Iraqi Intelligence and safety forces, carried out an airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, that killed the “World ISIS #2 chief, Chief of World Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir – Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah,’ and one different ISIS operative.”
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted by saying al-Rifai’s “depressing life was terminated.” (Getty Photographs)
“Because the Emir of ISIS’ most senior decision-making physique, Abu Khadijah maintained accountability for operations, logistics, and planning carried out by ISIS globally, and directs a good portion of finance for the group’s world group,” CENTCOM mentioned.
Islamic State/Iraq/Syria: A masked Islamic State soldier poses holding the ISIL banner someplace within the deserts of Iraq or Syria. ISIL publicity picture, 2015. (Footage from Historical past/Common Photographs Group through Getty Photographs)
After the strike, U.S. and Iraqi forces moved to the placement of the strike and located each useless ISIS targets who have been every carrying unexploded “suicide vests” and who had a number of weapons, CENTCOM mentioned.
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Syrian International Minister Asaad al-Shaybani, left, speaks throughout a information convention together with his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein following their assembly, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March14, 2025. (AP)
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U.S. and Iraqi forces have been in a position to determine al-Rifai utilizing DNA collected in a earlier raid the place he narrowly escaped.
“Abu Khadijah was probably the most necessary ISIS members in all the world ISIS group. We are going to proceed to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and companion personnel within the area and past,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander at CENTCOM, mentioned in a press release.
