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 stated in a press release.
The prime minister described al-Rifai as “one of the harmful terrorists in Iraq and the world.”
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the information on his social media platform Reality Social, saying al-Rifai’s “depressing life was terminated.”
FORMER IRAQI REFUGEE LIVING IN TEXAS PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRING TO SUPPORT ISIS
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani described al-Rifai as “one of the harmful terrorists in Iraq and the world.” (AP)
“Immediately the fugitive chief of ISIS in Iraq was killed,” Trump wrote Friday evening. “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 stated 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 Pictures)
“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 international group,” CENTCOM stated.
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 Pictures Group by way of Getty Pictures)
After the strike, U.S. and Iraqi forces moved to the situation of the strike and located each lifeless ISIS targets who have been every sporting unexploded “suicide vests” and who had a number of weapons, CENTCOM stated.
Syrian Overseas 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 capable of establish al-Rifai utilizing DNA collected in a earlier raid the place he narrowly escaped.
“Abu Khadijah was one of the vital ISIS members in your complete international ISIS group. We’ll proceed to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and associate personnel within the area and past,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander at CENTCOM, stated in a press release.
