Head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed, Iraqi prime
minister says
[March 15, 2025]
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been
killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national
intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi
prime minister announced Friday.
“The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of
darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of
the militant group and as “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq
and the world," the statement said.
On his Truth Social platform Friday night, U.S. President Donald Trump
said: “Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was
relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters” in coordination
with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government.
“PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” Trump posted.
A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike
in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation
took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai's death was confirmed
Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to comment publicly.
The announcement came on the same day as the first visit by Syria’s top
diplomat to Iraq, during which the two countries pledged to work
together to combat IS.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said at a news conference that
“there are common challenges facing Syrian and Iraqi society, and
especially the terrorists of IS.” He said the officials had spoken “in
detail about the movements of ISIS, whether on the Syrian-Iraqi border,
inside Syria or inside Iraq” during the visit.
Hussein referred to an operations room formed by Syria, Iraq, Turkey,
Jordan and Lebanon at a recent meeting in Amman to confront IS, and said
it would soon begin work.
The relationship between Iraq and Syria is somewhat fraught after the
fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Al-Sudani came to power
with the support of a coalition of Iran-backed factions, and Tehran was
a major backer of Assad. The current interim president of Syria, Ahmad
al-Sharaa, was previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani and fought as
an al-Qaida militant in Iraq after the U.S. invasion of 2003, and later
fought against Assad's government in Syria.
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Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaybani, left, speaks during a
news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein following
their meeting, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March.14, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi
Mizban)
But Syrian interim Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani focused on
the historic ties between the two countries.
“Throughout history, Baghdad and Damascus have been the capitals of the
Arab and Islamic world, sharing knowledge, culture and economy,” he
said.
Strengthening the partnership between the two countries “will not only
benefit our peoples, but will also contribute to the stability of the
region, making us less dependent on external powers and better able to
determine our own destiny,” he said.
The operation and the visit come at a time when Iraqi officials are
anxious about an IS resurgence in the wake of the fall of Assad in
Syria.
While Syria’s new rulers - led by the Islamist former insurgent group
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - have pursued IS cells since taking power, some
fear a breakdown in overall security that could allow the group to stage
a resurgence.
The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the
military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the
Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some
bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military
presence in the country.
When the agreement was reached to end the coalition’s mission in Iraq,
Iraqi political leaders said the threat of IS was under control and they
no longer needed Washington’s help to beat back the remaining cells.
But the fall of Assad in December led some to reassess that stance,
including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly
Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime
Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
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Associated Press staff writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this
report.
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