Kurdish forces announced elimination of a key IS leader in Raqqa

The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the elimination of one of the significant Islamic State leaders in the city of Raqqa in Syria.
 

According to the SDF statement quoted by the Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA), “SDF counter-terrorism units, in cooperation with the forces of the international coalition and the Iraqi Kurdistan Anti-Terrorism Service, carried out a special operation in the center of the city of Raqqa,” eliminating one of the key IS leaders named Ibrahim al-Ali, also known as “Abu Mujahid”. It was mentioned that the troops also found weapons, ammunition and communications equipment in the house where the IS militant was hiding.

Most of the area of Syrian governorates of Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, located in the east and northeast of the country, is currently controlled by the Kurdish SDF with the support of the United States. Since 2015, the US command has established nine military bases in the area. At the end of 2019, then-U.S. President Donald Trump approved a plan that would leave several hundred U.S. troops in Syria. One of their main tasks would be to ensure control over oil fields in the northeast and east of the country.