Little is known about the ISIS leader, who died, much like his predecessor, in a raid by U.S. commandos in northwestern Syria.
The head of Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, died as he lived most of his life: off the grid in the jihadist underworld. Little is known about the ISIS leader, whose real name is Amir Muhammad Said Abdel-Rahman al-Mawla, or other members of the group’s senior command. But his death in a raid by U.S. commandos in Syria on Thursday was a significant blow to the terror group and a victory for U.S. counterterrorism efforts. While he was nowhere near as prominent as his predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died in a similar U.S. operation in 2019, “Mr. Qurayshi still commands a lot of respect within jihadi circles and is known to be highly intelligent and able to think strategically, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. Mr. Clarke said that Mr. al-Qurayshi had kept a low profile, which helped him elude an American-led manhunt but also may have hampered his ability to expand the Islamic State’s global network and brand.
