Top ISIS leader killed in coalition airstrike

Senior ISIS leader Tariq Al-Harzi was killed by a coalition airstrike in Syria last month, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Al-Harzi was responsible for getting people and materials into Iraq and Syria, and worked to recruit fighters, according to Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Defense.

Al-Harzi was killed in Shaddadi, Syria, on June 16, Davis said.

Known as the “emir of suicide bombers,” al-Harzi was added to the U.S. Designated Terrorist List in 2014.

He was believed to be in charge of the group’s operations beyond Iraq and Syria, too — operations that have become much more significant in recent months as ISIS has established a foothold in Libya and gained affiliates in Nigeria and Egypt, among other places.

According to a jihadist profile, al-Harzi, a Tunisian, was freed from Abu Ghraib prison during an ISIS raid in July 2013. His younger brother was detained in Tunisia for a while in connection with the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya, Christopher Stevens.

The U.S. State Department had offered a $3 million reward for information on al-Harzi.

Exit mobile version