Steph Deschamps / February 4, 2022
The U.S. military conducted a pre-dawn commando operation in which the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurachi, was killed in a televised statement.
U.S. special forces were airlifted into an area of northwestern Syria before dawn Thursday, launching the assault on al-Qurachi before he set off a bomb that killed him and members of his family including women and children, a White House official said earlier.
Biden added that he favored a commando operation to avoid civilian casualties. The leader of the EI blew himself up in a final act of cowardice.
With no regard for the lives of his own family or others in the building, he chose to blow himself up, not just the (explosive) belt, but to blow up that third floor. Rather than face justice for the crimes he committed, taking many of his family members with him, as his predecessor did, Biden said in brief remarks at the White House.