Witnesses living in the same village as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, have told how US special forces carried out a three-hour raid to take out the Islamic State leader.
Al-Qurayshi’s death was announced by US President Joe Biden on Thursday, hours after US commandoes attacked an address in Atmeh, northwestern Syria. The deadly overnight raid led to other casualties, with first responders telling The Independent that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
American troops landed in helicopters and clashed for hours with gunmen, witnesses said. Residents described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the town of Atmeh near the Turkish border, an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi - the leader of Isis,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
He said all Americans involved in the operation returned safely and that the US had worked to minimise casualties.
The opposition-run Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said the victims were killed in shelling and a battle that followed after the US commando raid.
They said that the raid went on for three hours and they managed to rescue an injured child whose entire family had been killed in the operation.
Footage apparently taken at the scene showed men digging through the rubble of a partially destroyed three-storey house.
In another clip shared online, that was purportedly taken nearby showed rescuers carrying an injured girl.
Residents of Atmeh said they heard helicopters circling overhead before soldiers alighted and US forces began their raid which resulted in a several hour battle.
Terrified and alone with her mother and sister, Sima, 22 (not her real name) said they moved away from the windows as a precaution.
“We heard a voice from loudspeakers saying the woman and children should get out of the house that was being targeted. But we didn’t know which house was the target,” she said sharing audio she recorded of the helicopters and her panicked relatives.
“We heard the sound of clashes and fighting. First the aircraft, then the sound of shelling then at 2am what sounded like machine guns from the helicopter. It went on until past 3 o’clock”.
She said that they also heard what sounded like six airstrikes. Her family, who are internally displaced from another part of Syria, did not know who was living in the three-storey house that had been hit.
“Most of the second floor is now missing, inside there was a lot of destruction,” she said. Videos taken from the scene and shared online showed blood-smeared walls.
An Iraqi intelligence official, who had knowledge of the raid told The Independent, that al-Qurashi blew up a suicide belt he was wearing.
The official, who could not be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said that Iraqi intelligence services had played a “pivotal” role in the attack.
“About seven aircraft were used including drones and a helicopter,” he added. “Qurashi barricaded himself in using his family,” he added.
The raid was in an area largely controlled by Turkish-backed fighters but is also an al-Qaeda stronghold and home to several of its top operatives. Other militants, including extremists from the rival Isis group, have also sought refuge in the region.
Jamil el-Deddo, a resident of a nearby refugee camp told The Associated Press that the first moments were “terrifying, no one knew what was happening”.
"We were worried it could be Syrian aircraft, which brought back memories of barrel bombs that used to be dropped on us," he added, referring to crude explosives-filled containers used by President Bashar Assad’s forces against opponents during the Syrian conflict.
The top floor of the house was almost totally destroyed in Thursday’s raid, with the ceiling and walls knocked out.
Former Isis chief Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was killed in a President Trump-era raid, also on Idlib in 2019.
