ISIS Confirms Death Of Leader In Clashes In Syria, Announces Successor

<p><strong>New Delhi:</strong> The Islamic State group on Thursday announced the death of its leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, stating that he was killed in clashes in northwestern Syria, news agency AFP reported.</p> <div> <p>In a recorded statement on its channels on the Telegram messaging app, an IS spokesman said that the leader "was killed after direct clashes" with the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib province.&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>As per the news agency AFP, the spokesman announced the group's new leader. Abi Hafsan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi will be the group's fifth leader.</p> <p>Its previous leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, as per the group's announcement, died in November of 2022. His predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi was killed in February of the same year, during a US raid in Idlib province.&nbsp;</p> <p>The group&rsquo;s first leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed, also in Idlib, in October 2019.</p> <p>It appeared to be the militant group's first official announcement on his fate since Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said in April that Turkish intelligence forces had killed him in Syria.</p> <p>IS saw a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014 that saw it conquer vast swathes of territory. However, the Islamic State soon saw its self-proclaimed "caliphate" collapse under a wave of offensives.</p> <p>As per the France-based news agency, the extremist group's austere and terror-ridden rule was marked by beheadings and mass shootings.</p> <div> <p>It was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, However, despite this the sleeper cells still carry out attacks in both countries.</p> <p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2 body__full_width__ekUdw body__small_body__2vQyf article-body__paragraph__2-BtD" data-testid="paragraph-7">Its remaining thousands of militants have in recent years mostly hid out in remote hinterlands of both countries, though they are still capable of carrying out hit-and-run attacks, according to Reuters.</p> <p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2 body__full_width__ekUdw body__small_body__2vQyf article-body__paragraph__2-BtD" data-testid="paragraph-8">The U.S.-led coalition alongside a Kurdish-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is still carrying out raids against Islamic State in Syria, as per the agency.</p> </div>

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