Maher al-Agal, one of the five leaders of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, was killed in a US drone strike on Tuesday. One of his top aides was also seriously injured, Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn reported.
The Syrian Civil Defense Force said that one person was killed and another injured in a strike that targeted a motorcycle outside Aleppo but did not identify the victims. They have now been identified as Maher al-Agal and his senior associate respectively.
Maher al-Agal was responsible for “aggressively” developing IS networks outside of Iraq and Syria, said US Central Command, adding that “extensive planning” went into the drone strike to “ensure its successful execution”.
Al-Agal was previously a prominent IS commander when the group controlled Raqqa in Syria, according to war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Since then, he moved further north to Afrin in 2020 under Turkish-backed factions.
There was little information available about Al-Agal, whom the Observatory called the Islamic State governor for the Levant.
The strike came nearly five months after a previous nighttime US raid in the town of Atme in northern Syria which led to the death of the overall Islamic State leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi.
US officials said Qurashi died when he detonated a bomb to avoid capture.
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