Israeli media claimed that Tel Aviv played a role in the US operation to eliminate ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
Israeli Channel 13 quoted sources as saying that it is possible to assess, according to security sources, that Israel participated in the search for Qurayshi's intelligence and contributed, using its sources in Syria, to create this bridge which allowed the United States to act.
One of the channel's sources stated that such an operation would not have been possible without the data on his whereabouts.
The Kan public broadcaster said the US notified Israel of the operation ahead of time, likely because of Jerusalem's familiarity with al-Qurayshi, who held the "Israel file" in ISIS before taking over as the terror group's leader October 2019.
Former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Maariv daily earlier this month that Israeli forces participated in actions that killed hundreds of the group's operatives throughout the Middle East.
On Thursday, US helicopters landed a group of special forces in the Atmeh area in the northern countryside of Idlib, near the Turkish border.
US special forces landed in helicopters and assaulted a house, where Qurayshi had taken as a hideout for him.
The United States "has eliminated a major terrorist threat in the world," US President Joe Biden said Thursday in a brief address at the White House.
In his address, Biden confirmed that "in a final act of desperate cowardice, (al-Qurayshi) … chose to blow himself up… taking several members of his family with him."
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced that his country does not currently have any additional information about the preparation of ISIS to carry out new attacks to avenge the elimination of its leader.
"More information will be provided as it becomes available," the statement said.
Kirby told CNN that the US always follows up with urgency the threats issued by ISIS, but currently, there isn't any evidence about ISIS preparing for a retaliatory strike shortly.
At the same time, he stressed that the United States is doing everything possible to ensure its security and the security of its allies and partners.
