US raid in Syria killed top ISIL leader: Biden
ATMEH
A U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria early on Feb. 3 killed the top leader of the ISIL, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, President Joe Biden said.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi -the leader of ISIS,” Biden said in a statement. He said all Americans involved in the operation returned safely.
Biden said he would address the American people later Thursday on the raid.
U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday. First responders at the scene reported 13 people were killed, including six children and four women.
Residents said helicopters flew overhead and U.S. forces clashed with gunmen for more than two hours around a two-story house surrounded by olive trees. They described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the sleepy village of Atmeh near the Turkish border, an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war.
