{"id":47589,"date":"2022-02-04T09:36:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T09:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47589"},"modified":"2022-02-04T09:36:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T09:36:56","slug":"calls-to-break-silence-on-lokman-slim-assassination-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47589","title":{"rendered":"Calls to break silence on Lokman Slim assassination anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nAMMAN\/WASHINGTON:\u00a0President Joe Biden said on Thursday a global \u201cterrorist threat\u201d was removed when the head of the Daesh group blew himself up after US special forces swooped in on his Syrian hideout in an \u201cincredibly challenging\u201d nighttime helicopter raid.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world, the global leader of Daesh,\u201d Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, Biden said in nationally televised remarks.<\/p>\n

\nThe operation dealt the biggest setback to the terrorist organization since Qurashi\u2019s predecessor, the better-known Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was killed in a US commando raid in the same Syrian region of Idlib in 2019.<\/p>\n

\nBiden said he ordered an assault by troops, rather than merely bombing the house where the Daesh leader was located, in order to minimize civilian casualties, even though this meant \u201ca much greater risk to our own people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAbu Ibrahim Al-Qurashi. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nThe house contained \u201cfamilies, including children\u201d and \u201cas our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final act of desperate cowardice, with no regard to the lives of his own family or others in the building, he chose to blow himself up,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n

\nQurashi did not merely set off a suicide vest to kill himself, but detonated the entire \u201cthird floor\u201d of the residence in the town of Atme, Biden said, \u201ctaking several members of his family with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAn Iraqi from the Turkmen-majority city of Tal Afar, Qurashi was also known as Amir Mohammed Said Abd Al-Rahman Al-Mawla. He replaced Baghdadi after his death in a US raid in October 2019, which also ended when Baghdadi blew himself up.<\/p>\n

\nQuraishi was hiding out in a region of Syria that is home to several militant groups including Huras Al-Din (Guardians of Religion), an Al-Qaeda-affiliated faction whose leaders include foreign fighters.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHIGH<\/span>LIGHT<\/h4>\n
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\nIn some of the rooms, blood was splattered high on the walls and stained the floor, littered with foam mattresses and shards from smashed doors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nThe US government had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Qurashi, one of the world\u2019s most wanted fugitives.<\/p>\n

\nThe head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said that \u201c13 people at least were killed, among them four children and three women, during the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe owner of the building where Qurashi was staying described his tenant as leading an ordinary life.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis guy lived here for 11 months. I didn\u2019t see anything suspicious or notice anything,\u201d the landlord, who gave his name only as\u00a0Abu Ahmad, said. \u201cHe would come and pay the rent and leave. He lived with his three children and his wife. His widowed sister and her daughter were living above them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nResidents in the town of Atmeh, near the Turkish border, said helicopters landed and heavy gunfire and explosions were heard during the raid that began around midnight. US forces used loud speakers to warn women and children to leave the area, they said.<\/p>\n

\nUS military procedures to guard against civilian casualties are under scrutiny\u00a0following a high-profile mistaken drone strike in Afghanistan that the Pentagon initially hailed a success.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
\nThe building of raw cinder blocks bore the scars of an intense battle, with torn window frames, charred ceilings and a partly collapsed roof. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\nA witness said he woke to the sound of helicopters. \u201cThen we heard small explosions. Then we heard stronger explosions,\u201d Abu Ali, a displaced Syrian living in Atme said, adding that US forces told residents \u201cnot to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nElite, US-trained members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces joined the operation, Abdel Rahman said.<\/p>\n

\nThe building of raw cinder blocks bore the scars of an intense battle, with torn window frames, charred ceilings and a partially collapsed roof.<\/p>\n

\nBiden and US officials described Quraishi as the \u201cdriving force\u201d behind the 2014 genocide of minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, and said he oversaw a network of Daesh\u00a0branches from Africa to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cLast night\u2019s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield and has sent a strong message to terrorist around the world: We will come after you and find you,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n

\nSince its defeat on the battlefield nearly three years ago, Daesh\u00a0has waged insurgent attacks in Iraq and Syria. The most recent was last month when its fighters stormed a prison in northeastern Syria housing Daesh\u00a0suspects.<\/p>\n

\nLocal leaders, security officials and residents in northern Iraq say it has been re-emerging as a deadly threat, aided by a lack of central control in many areas.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cQuraishi\u2019s killing is a huge deal and a huge blow to Daesh because Daesh never heard from this new leader,\u201d Syria analyst Hassan Hassan said. \u201cI think Daesh will continue to be weak and under pressure as long as the Americans are on the ground in Iraq and Syria and involved, because the US serves as feet on a spring: once you step off, it sort of bounces back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AMMAN\/WASHINGTON:\u00a0President Joe Biden said on Thursday a global \u201cterrorist threat\u201d was removed when the head of the Daesh group blew himself up after US special forces swooped in on his Syrian hideout in an \u201cincredibly challenging\u201d nighttime helicopter raid. \u201cThe United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world, the global…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}