Leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria killed in military operation, Pentagon says
U.S. Central Command and Iraqi Prime Minister announced Friday that members of Iraq’s National Intelligence Agency’s actions, together with members of the Iraqi National Intelligence Agency, killed Iraq and Syria chiefs in Iraq.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement released on X: “The Iraqis continue to achieve impressive victory in the power of darkness and terrorism.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai or “Abu Khadija” is the “deputy caliph” of the militant group and is known as “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world”, the statement said.
President Trump wrote on his truth social platform Friday night: “Today, the fugitive leader of Iraq ISIS was killed. He coordinated with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government.
“Peace through power!” Trump released.
Centcom Report In a social media post, Abu Khadija was killed in an operation involving Iraqi intelligence and CENTCOM troops on Thursday in an “precision air strike” in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. The second ISIS operator was also killed during the strike. The strike’s aerial video was also released.
Centcom said that after the air strikes, U.S. and Iraqi forces moved in and found that the two late terrorists were wearing unexploded suicide vests and equipped with multiple weapons. Abu Khadijah was identified using a DNA test, collected in the former raid where he escaped.
“Abu Khadijah is one of the most important ISIS members in the global ISIS organization,” Centcom commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement. “We will continue to kill terrorists and demolish organizations that threaten our hometown and us, allies and partners and beyond.”
The news comes the same day when Syria’s top diplomat first visited Iraq, during which the two countries promised to work together to combat the Islamic State.
“The common challenges faced by terrorists in Syria and Iraqi society, especially IS,” Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said in a press conference. He said officials detailed the ISIS movement during their visit, whether on the Syria-Iraq border, within Syria or within Iraq.”
Decide al-Sudani/anadolu by Getty Images 
Hussein mentioned a face-to-face operation room in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon in Amman and said that work will begin soon.
Relations between Iraq and Syria are somewhat troubled The fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Al-Sudani came to power with the support of a factional coalition supported by Iran, Tehran is a major supporter of Assad. The current Syrian interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was formerly known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani and fought as an al-Qaeda militant in Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003, and later fought Assad’s government in Syria.
But Syria’s interim foreign minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani focused on the historical relationship between the two countries.
“Baghdad and Damascus have been the capitals of the Arab and Islamic worlds throughout history, sharing knowledge, culture and economy,” he said.
He said strengthening the partnership between the two countries “will not only benefit our people, but also contribute to stability in the region, allowing us to reduce external power and be able to better determine our own destiny.”
The action and visit are amid anxieties among Iraqi officials about the revival of the ISIS Assad collapses In Syria.
Syria’s new ruler (led by former Islamic insurgency group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) has been pursuing ISIS cells since, but some have Worry about the segmentation of overall security This can make the group play.
The United States and Iraq announced a deal last year to end with a military mission with the ISIS group in combating Iraq by September 2025, with U.S. troops sending troops to some bases during the country’s twenty-year military presence.
When a deal was reached to end the coalition’s mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the ISIS threat was under control and they no longer needed Washington’s help to defeat the rest of the cells.
However, Assad’s fall in December caused some to reassess the position, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of primarily Shia, Iranian and Iranian political parties, which brought in current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
