Witnesses claim that the leader of the so-called Islamic State committed suicide after being surrounded in Syria with his aides,

According to the US military, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi died in an operation by the rebel Free Syrian Army in Jasem, northwestern Deraa in mid-October.

Al Quraishi’s death was announced by IS on Wednesday, more than a month after.

This militant group once claimed vast swathes in Iraq and Syria. It still conducts occasional attacks.

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Salem al Horani, a Jasem resident and ex-fighter who was involved in the siege on the three houses where the IS cells were discovered, said that the leader and his companion committed suicide after our fighters stormed their hideout.

Following Russian-brokered reconciliation deals in 2018, which gave southern Syria control back to Damascus, Deraa was taken under control by the Syrian army.

The FSA received support from the West and Gulf States until 2018, when they withdrew their support. However, its fighters remained in that area following the reconciliation agreements under which they were permitted to keep light weapons while giving up heavy weapons.

Omar al-Muhajer, spokesperson for IS, said Al-Qurayshi had “died fighting the enemy of God”.

Al-Qurayshi is now the third leader to die since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder of the Islamic Republic, was killed in an American raid in the northwest in October 2019.

Al-Muhajer stated that Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi had been named the new leader of the group.

It is not believed that any of the al-Qurayshis can be related. Al-Qurayshi, although not their real names, comes from Quraish. Quraish is the name of the tribe where Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was born.

IS claims that its leaders are from this tribe, and “al-Qurayshi”, which is part of IS’s nom de guerre, serves as an example.

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Where is Islam now?

IS emerged in the chaos of the civil wars in Iraq and expanded to include large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014.

It is well-known for its brutal rule, during which thousands were killed and executed and was a sponsor of terrorist attacks around the world.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a former leader, declared an Islamic caliphate in Mosul in northern Iraq that year. He also declared himself the caliph for all Muslims.

Its reign ended in 2017 in Iraq and two years later in Syria.

It and its affiliates continue to launch deadly attacks on territory that it once claimed to be part of its caliphate.

Four soldiers were killed when IS militants attacked an Iraqi military position in Kirkuk’s northwestern governorate.

According to a Taliban official, at least 10 students were killed in a bomb attack on a school of religious studies in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Although there was no immediate claim for responsibility, the attack occurred amid an IS-affiliated campaign of violence in Afghanistan that has been intensifying since the Taliban came to power.