A Top ISIS Leader Is Killed in an Airstrike, the Pentagon Says

[Disir]

WASHINGTON — American Special Operations forces in eastern Syria killed a top Islamic State commander this week, Pentagon officials said Friday, part of a monthslong campaign the Obama administration boasts is eviscerating the Islamic State even as the group continues to demonstrate the power to sow violence in Western Europe.

The American forces originally hoped to capture the commander, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, and were following his vehicle in at least two helicopters, according to a senior military official who requested anonymity. But their plan to land Special Operations fighters, seize Mr. Qaduli and return him to the helicopter changed for unknown reasons, and they fired on the vehicle instead, killing him.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced Mr. Qaduli’s death, describing him as the group’s top financier, but he offered few details of how he had been killed. Mr. Carter said the military effort against the Islamic State was gaining momentum, repeating a claim he has made for the past three months. He said the group was steadily being drained of leaders, soldiers and money, and was losing its grip on the parts of Iraq and Syria it had controlled.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/w...-al-qaduli-isis-reported-killed-in-syria.html

I am not seeing this as a major blow.

 

[eagle1462010]

Number 3 will be the new number 2............but it's good to hear that they are losing commanders............From what they are doing over there............sick............bye bitch............burn in hell.

 

[shadow355]

It keeps the bad guys on their toes.

Walking around scared, sitting down at a meal wondering if a bomb is going to drop in on your hut.

Not able to talk on phone because the US will hear you and send a drone to drop a missile in your lap.

Stepping outside and looking up to see if a drone or a F-18 is flying around.

We are hindering their ability to communicate - be mobile - meet with associates.

Number three steps up to number two, and he knows that in doing so....his days are numbered. For number one, it is just a matter of time.

Shadow 355

 

[deltex1]

It keeps the bad guys on their toes.

Walking around scared, sitting down at a meal wondering if a bomb is going to drop in on your hut.

Not able to talk on phone because the US will hear you and send a drone to drop a missile in your lap.

Stepping outside and looking up to see if a drone or a F-18 is flying around.

We are hindering their ability to communicate - be mobile - meet with associates.

Number three steps up to number two, and he knows that in doing so....his days are numbered. For number one, it is just a matter of time.

Shadow 355

With Obama, as long as you stay close to your family, and goat, you are safe.

 

[shadow355]

Modified from the initial story I read a day or so ago.

Initial reports was it was done by Special Operations. Now reports are saying it was a drone that killed him.


QUOTE = "The U.S. operation was intended to capture him alive, a U.S. official told CNN. Helicopters loaded with special operations forces swooped in on a vehicle carrying al-Qaduli, but at the last moment something happened that caused them to decide to fire on the vehicle instead. The official would not say what it was that caused them to modify the plan."

Pentagon: ISIS finance minister killed - CNNPolitics.com


---------------------------------------------

QUOTE = "The announcement came just three days after the Islamic State killed 31 people in a series of explosions in Brussels, showing in gruesome fashion that its abilities to conduct large-scale terrorist attacks are hardly diminished."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/w...aduli-isis-reported-killed-in-syria.html?_r=0


Shadow 355

 

[shadow355]

WASHINGTON — American Special Operations forces in eastern Syria killed a top Islamic State commander this week........

Shadow 355

 

[waltky]

ISIS' finance minister death a heavy blow...

Islamic State dealt hefty body blow with death of top aide - officials
26 Mar 2016 - Islamic State will struggle to recover from the death of a top aide, reported this week in a U.S. air strike, whose overview of the group's finances, politics and administration was unmatched, Iraqi and U.S. sources said.

Islamic State will struggle to recover from the death of a top aide, reported this week in a U.S. air strike, whose overview of the group's finances, politics and administration was unmatched, Iraqi and U.S. sources said. Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Haji Iman and Abu Alaa al-Afri, was a veteran jihadist with a bounty of US$7 million (5 million pound) on his head. That was second only to the US$10 million offered for Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and accurately reflected his importance to the group. "This is the heaviest blow to Islamic State in terms of assassinations because Qaduli was at the heart of (its) ...administrative structure," said Hisham al-Hashimi, an analyst who advises the Iraqi government on the militants. "Baghdadi can't replace Haji Iman with a person of equivalent value. He will have to appoint three people to fill the vacuum... That reduces (Baghdadi's)... efficiency and leaves him more exposed to danger than before."

As well as heading the Shura council that advises Baghdadi, Qaduli was governor of the Syrian provinces and the group's financial comptroller, Hashimi said. His death, and just before him that of war minister Abu Omar al-Shishani and the capture of an unidentified chemical weapons operative, "show that the United States has sources of information close to their top command level," the analyst added. U.S. officials say Islamic State is losing a battle to forces arrayed against it from many sides in the vast region it controls. The jihadist fighters were on the retreat this week in the strategic Syrian city of Palmyra.

In Iraq, the group has been pulling back since December when it lost Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar. The Baghdad government is hoping this year to recapture Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, seized by the militants nearly two years ago. "The loss of Haji Iman will be massive. Although (Islamic State) ... has a strong system in place to replace key leaders it still takes time to readjust," said Ranj Talabany, an official from the Kurdish Zanyari intelligence agency. "He was fully aware of their finances, and key leadership decisions were made with Haji Iman being consulted."

AL QAEDA VETERAN