Iraq says senior ISIS leader killed in Syria strike coordinated with international coalition

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service said Friday that a senior Islamic State leader, Omar Abdel Qader Bassam, known as Abdul Rahman al-Halabi, was killed in an airstrike inside Syrian territory in an operation carried out with the U.S.-led international coalition.

The service described al-Halabi as a “prominent leader” and the group’s chief of external operations and security. He was accused of planning and overseeing ISIS’ so-called “distant provinces” and was “directly involved” in the bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon, as well as foiled attacks in Europe and the United States, according to the statement.

The strike followed months of intelligence tracking and legal coordination to pinpoint al-Halabi’s movements. Coalition aircraft carried out the strike once he was located.

The Counter-Terrorism Service said the operation dealt “a major strategic loss for the terrorist organization,” noting it followed the killing of more than six senior ISIS figures in recent weeks.

ISIS declared a caliphate in 2014, seizing cities including Mosul and Tikrit, before Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, and a U.S.-led coalition drove it from its urban strongholds in 2017. Its last Syrian bastion fell in 2019, but remnants continue to operate in rural and desert areas.