The U.S. government says it believes it knows the real name of Abu Sayyaf, the key ISIS commander it says was killed during a U.S. raid in Syria over the weekend.
“While he had a number of aliases, we believe his real name to have been Fathi Ben Awn Ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi,” a U.S. official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The man known as Abu Sayyaf — a nom de guerre — was killed in a heavy firefight after he resisted capture in a U.S. special operations forces raid at al-Omar in eastern Syria overnight Friday into Saturday, the U.S. Defense Department has said.
The U.S. forces also captured his wife and secured intelligence on how the terror organization operates, communicates and earns money, U.S. government officials said.
Previously, U.S. officials described Abu Sayyaf as a Tunisian who was a key money man overseeing ISIS’ oil and gas operations and had some involvement in the terror group’s military operations.