U.S. Airstrike Kills ISIS Leader in Syria: DOD

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Sunday confirmed that a drone airstrike from Friday successfully killed an ISIS leader in Syria.

The official statement announcing the news was shared across various platforms, including CENTCOM's official Twitter account. In it, the agency confirmed the death of ISIS leader Usamah Al-Muhajir, with the airstrike taking place in an unspecified part of Eastern Syria.

"This will disrupt and degrade ISIS's ability to plan and conduct terror attacks," the official statement read. "However, CENTCOM's operations against ISIS, alongside partner forces in Iraq and Syria, will continue in order to achieve the group's enduring defeat."

The statement further claimed that the MQ-9 drones, also known as "reapers," involved in the strike had previously been engaged in a harassing encounter with Russian crafts.

The statement continued: "The strike on Friday was conducted by the same MQ-9s that had, earlier in the day, been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours."

CENTCOM added that the strike is believed to have been carried out with no collateral harm to civilians, though the coalition in the region is currently assessing any reports made about civilian harm or death caused by the incident.

"We have made it clear that we remain committed to the defeat of ISIS throughout the region," General Michael "Erik" Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM, said. "ISIS remains a threat, not only to the region but well beyond."

Little information is currently available about Al-Muhajir and what his actions were in Syria. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Defense via email for comment.

The case of Al-Muhajir is the latest instance of an ISIS leader being killed in Syria as the U.S. military continues its operations in the country. In April, CENTCOM confirmed that senior leader Abd-al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali was killed in a "unilateral helicopter raid" in Northern Syria, alongside two other ISIS operatives. Ali was reportedly involved in planning terror attacks across the Middle East and Europe. The raid was initiated after intelligence was received indicating that ISIS was planning to kidnap overseas officials as a means to gain leverage.

"While the so-called territorial caliphate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was destroyed, the group maintains the capability to conduct operations in the region, and desires to strike outside of it," Major John Moore, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told Newsweek at the time. "This threatens the security and stability of the region and poses risk to the U.S. homeland, and those of our partners and allies. Our goal is to continue to support and enable our Iraqi Security Forces and Syrian Democratic Forces partners, at their request, to put pressure on ISIS."

Update 7/9/2023, 10:18 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.