White House Celebrates Recent Win in US Fight Against ISIS
Secretary Kirby breaks down the US Special Operation that killed Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi during a briefing at the Pentagon. Source: SD Union Tribune
President Biden announced on Thursday that after two months of planning, the US military had successfully carried out an operation that resulted in the death of the top ISIS leader. Hajji Abdullah, also known as Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi died by suicide bombing in Syria, in what is considered a significant blow to ISIS operations abroad. Qurayshi had been the head of the terrorist group since 2019, after the Trump administration approved plans to kill former ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Qurayashi was a notably hands-on leader and had been directly involved in the genocide of the Yazidi population in northern Iraq and a large scale prison break last week.
The White House is celebrating Qurayshi’s death as a win for the Biden administration, which has faced criticism for the contentious withdrawal from Afghanistan, the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, and increased competition with China. Press from the White House has been consistent in claims that President Biden was deeply involved in the operations planning. Both he and Vice-President Harris monitored the two-hour long operation from the situation room as it unfolded. President Biden gave the go-ahead for the operation nearly two months ago, when intelligence confirmed Qurayshi’s residential location, commencing what President Biden described as “meticulous” physical rehearsals. Essential to the operation was clearing civilians from the area, which the Press Secretary for the Department of Defense, John Kirby, stated was accomplished by asking civilians to clear the area with bullhorns. Though U.S. Special Operations were able to successfully evacuate ten women and children from the scene; the explosion did kill Qurayshi’s wife and two children.
The Biden Administration has hailed Quarayshi’s death as a big win for the fight against ISIS — which has spanned nearly eight years. Secretary Kirby stated plainly: “They’re leaderless today and that’s a significant blow. This is not something we believe ISIS is going to be able to just get over real quickly and real easily.” However, experts say that the US and their allies in the fight against the terrorist group should not underestimate ISIS’ ability to adapt. In the past several years, the terrorist organization has increasingly decentralized. This has given ISIS improved ability to carry on without structured leadership. At its height ISIS controlled a piece of territory equivalent in size to Great Britain in Syria and Iraq, which mimicked certain functions of a state such as collecting taxes and providing public services. As of 2019 the physical caliphate ceased to exist, but ISIS has continued to carry out devastating terrorist attacks nontheless.
A recent UN report following Qurayshi’s death reported that ISIS is expected to retain somewhere between “6,000 to 10,000 fighters'' across Syria and Iraq where active cells and training operations continue to persist. The report divulged that member states hold varying opinions about the impact of Qurayshi’s death, with certain members still viewing a resurgence of ISIS as an imminent threat. For now, the threat of ISIS seems to be low in Iraq with some of the lowest attack numbers ever recorded. But in judging the impact of Qurayshi’s death on the terrorist organization, most international attention will turn towards Syria — where terrorists have found success in the turmoil of conflict, recruting from vulnerable youth demographics. The recent UN report described the precariousness of the situation: “Remaining stranded in harsh conditions, surrounded by radicalizing influences, may cause younger residents, especially, to become hardened and trained extremists.” Despite these concerns about a future ISIS resurgence, the White House remains confident that the recent operation in Syria is a positive step forward in the fight against terrorism, and President Biden has found a much needed win abroad.