The “alleged leader” of the Islamic State jihadist organization was “neutralized” last Saturday in Syria, during an operation conducted by Turkey’s intelligence service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday, Sunday.

“The alleged leader of ISIS, who had an alias Abu Husayn al-Qurasiwas neutralized during an operation conducted yesterday [σ.σ. προχθές Σάββατο] from MIT [την τουρκική υπηρεσία πληροφοριών] in Syria,” the Turkish head of state said during an interview with state broadcaster TRT Türk.

Mr. Erdogan clarified that the Turkish spy agency had been monitoring the IS leader “for a long time”, however he refrained from going into more details about the operation.

ISIS announced on November 30 the death of its previous leader, Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurasi, without specifying how he died.

He was replaced by Abu Al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurasi, the jihadist group had added at the time.

According to an AFP correspondent in northern Syria, the Turkish intelligence service and a local armed group supported by Ankara on Saturday blocked off an area north of the Jadairis community in the Afrin district (northwest), about ten kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border.

Residents of the area who were interviewed said that an operation was carried out targeting an abandoned farm where an Islamic seminary used to operate.

Turkey has deployed troops in various sectors of northern Syria since 2020, while controlling large areas through Syrian proxies of the Turkish military, organizations that have been involved in the war against Bashar al-Assad’s regime since 2011.

The US military has conducted several operations against IS leaders in Syria in recent years.

He announced in mid-April that he “probably” killed in his operation in northern Syria a leading member of the jihadist organization that was planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East.

The US military’s joint headquarters in charge of the Middle East, the “central command” (CENTCOM) clarified that it was Abdel Hadi Mahmoud al-Hajji Ali, according to it, a leading figure of IS established in Syrian territory.

Despite the repeated military defeats it suffered from being attacked everywhere and the loss of the territories it held in Syria and Iraq, IS continues to carry out deadly attacks.

At least 41 people, including 24 civilians, were killed on April 16 in Syria in two attacks attributed to the jihadist group, targeting truffle pickers and livestock farmers.

In early April, the US military announced that it had killed another IS leader responsible for attacks in Europe, which it identified as Khaled Eid Ahmad al-Jabouri.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Europe at the height of its power, when its “caliphate” stretched across vast swaths of Syria and Iraq.

In October 2019, Washington announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US operation. Two of his successors were killed in Syria in February and November 2022.