An Iraqi security expert revealed that Maher al-Aqal, who was killed in a drone strike in Jindires, northern Syria, is the official spokesman for ISIS.
The expert in Islamic groups and head of the security studies department at the Iraq Center for Foresight Studies, Raed Al-Hamid, said in an interview with “Syria TV” that Maher Al-Aqal is the brother of Fayez Al-Aqal (Abu Saad Al-Shamali).
Maher’s brother, Fayez, was known as the “Wali of Raqqa” in ISIS, as he was killed near the city of al-Bab in June 2020.
Abu Omar Al-Muhajir
Al-Hamid confirmed that “Maher al-Aqal is the new official spokesman for ISIS, nicknamed (Abu Omar al-Muhajir), who survived a previous landing carried out by the international coalition in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.”
On June 16, the International Coalition forces carried out an airdrop near the Al-Ghandoura district in Jarablus in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, and arrested what the coalition forces said was a “prominent leader” in ISIS, named Hani Ahmed Al-Kurdi. Coalition forces said he had extensive experience making bombs and explosives.
Raed Al-Hamid believes that “Al-Aqal was the target of that landing in Jarablus, but he and another person named (Abu Ibrahim Al-Safani), who was responsible for the assassinations in northern Syria, escaped him, and the two then left the Jarabulus area.”
Pentagon announcement
On Tuesday, the Central Command of the US Department of Defense, “Pentagon,” announced, the leader of the “Islamic State” organization in Syria, Maher Al-Aqal, was killed by a drone strike while he was riding a motorcycle near Jindires district in Afrin, Aleppo countryside, and his assistant was killed from his wounds.
US President Joe Biden considered that Al-Aqal’s killing “significantly limits ISIS’s ability to plan and deprive it of resources and carry out its operations in the region,” noting that his death “came after a firm and precise intelligence work.”
The US Central Command explained that “Al-Aqal, in addition to being a prominent leader within the organization, was responsible for developing ISIS networks outside Iraq and Syria.”
unknown character
Al-Aqal’s name was not mentioned much in the list of the people who control the affairs of ISIS, but after his death, he was found to be one of the group’s “five leaders,” according to the Pentagon statement.
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