On Tuesday (July 12), the Pentagon claimed that a drone attack killed the commander of the Islamic State extremist organization in Syria. According to the US Central Command, Maher al-Agal was killed while riding his motorcycle in northwest Syria during the operation. Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn, a spokesperson for the Pentagon’s Central Command, informed the news agency AFP that Maher al-Agal was killed near Jindires in northern Syria. He also stated that one of his senior aides was critically hurt in the incident.
According to the volunteer Syrian Civil Defense Force, the two were attacked while riding a motorcycle west of Aleppo. According to CNN, Central Command spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino stated, ‘The elimination of these ISIS officials would hamper the terrorist organization’s capacity to further plot and carry out strikes’. According to US President Joe Biden, the hit ‘takes an important terrorist off the field and dramatically reduces ISIS’s capacity to plan, resource, and conduct operations in the region’.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Biden said: ‘It sends a strong message to all terrorists who threaten our nation and our interests throughout the world, similar to the US operation in February that killed ISIS’s general head. The United States will work tirelessly to bring you to justice’. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Agal was the Islamic State’s governor for the Levant area. According to the US Central Command, the casualty was ‘one of the top five’ Islamic State leaders overall.
‘Along with being a prominent commander inside the organisation, Al-Agal was responsible for actively pursuing the expansion of IS networks outside of Iraq and Syria,’ the statement claimed. According to a spokesman for the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, both of the individuals targeted were affiliated with Ahrar al-Sharqiya, an armed organisation operating in northern Syria.
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