Live updates: ‘This horrible terrorist leader is no more,’ Biden says after ISIS leader killed in U.S. raid

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) praised the “successful mission” that led to the death of Qurayshi but stopped short of crediting the commander in chief.

“Wiping a deadly terrorist off the face of the planet is always good news,” Ernst said in a statement. “This successful mission was only made possible by the fearless and exceptional work of the United States Special Operations Forces. Day in and day out these brave men and women are working around the globe to protect the homeland from those who seek to do America harm, and I’m extremely grateful for their work in taking out this ISIS leader.”

Ernst then cautioned that the “the fight isn’t over.”

“The administration must present a clear and complete strategy to counter violent extremist organizations throughout the world in order to continue to keep Americans safe,” she said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) also applauded the U.S. military in a separate statement but gave a nod to Biden as well.

“I commend the Biden administration, as well as all those who enabled this mission, for their focus on disrupting and defeating a continually evolving international terrorist threat,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised the U.S. military for the operation that killed Qurayshi and said lawmakers would soon learn more about the attack.

“Earlier this morning … Americans learned that, thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have taken off the battlefield the world leader of ISIS,” he said. “I want to thank the incredible work of our brave military service members who worked day and night to keep Americans safe.”

“So many have suffered at the brutal hand of ISIS,” Schumer added.

Schumer said that he and other lawmakers will attend a classified briefing with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later Thursday morning to get more details about the counterterrorism mission.

Biden said Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of ISIS, was “taken off the battlefield” in the raid. He was named “caliph” after the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a 2019 raid.

Qurayshi was once described by the U.S. government as a chatty informant who divulged to U.S. forces details on a group once called al-Qaeda in Iraq, which later spawned the Islamic State.

Captured in late 2007 or early 2008, he spent months in an American detention camp in Iraq and was known as detainee M060108-01 in confidential interrogation reports published last year. The Defense Department documents painted a picture of a prolific, at times “cooperative,” informant who offered U.S. forces information that helped them fight a terrorist organization that he went on to lead.

Senior administration officials said the operation was planned for months and that Biden was first briefed in December by U.S. military commanders after they learned of Qurayshi’s location. Biden gave final approval Tuesday in the Oval Office in a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The officials, authorized to speak to reporters in a call on the condition of anonymity, said Biden directed the senior defense officials to take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties. That was particularly challenging, the officials said, because Qurayshi lived on the third floor of a building in a residential area with “unwitting” civilians below him who were unaware of his identity.

Early in the raid, the officials said, a woman, a man and several children safely vacated the first floor of the building when U.S. troops called out to them. Qurayshi detonated a bomb on the third floor while U.S. troops were still outside, killing himself and his family in similar fashion to the previous leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself and his family during a 2019 raid by U.S. troops, the officials said.

“Both of these terrorist leaders murdered their own families,” one administration official said. “In this case, the blast was so large on the third floor that it blew bodies outside of the house and into surrounding areas.”

An Islamic State lieutenant who worked for Qurayshi who was on the second floor of the building during the raid barricaded himself and his family inside, the officials added. He and his wife opened fire on the assault force, and they were killed, they said. Children on that floor left safely after the exchange of gunfire, the officials said.

In a statement Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the United States “delivered justice to the leader of ISIS and struck a serious blow to this terrorist group.”

“Our entire nation is grateful for the patriotism and dedication of our military personnel and intelligence community,” Pelosi said. “On behalf of the Congress, I salute President Biden’s strong leadership to keep our nation safe and secure.”

Pelosi said that while Qurayshi’s death is a “strong step forward in the fight against ISIS,” it does not mark the end of the terrorist organization.

“Congress remains ironclad in our commitment to our national security, and we will continue to work closely with the Administration to protect the American people,” she said.

Biden, in brief remarks at the White House, justified the raid by saying that the Islamic State leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, is no longer a threat.

“Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” he said.

While Biden didn’t respond to reporters’ questions about civilian deaths during the raid, he said he worked with the Pentagon to minimize them.

“I directed the Department of Defense to take every precaution possible to minimize civilian casualties, knowing that this terrorist had chosen to surround himself with families, including children,” Biden said in his remarks. “We made a choice to pursue a Special Forces raid at a much greater risk to our own people rather than targeting him with an airstrike. We made this choice to minimize civilian casualties.”

Biden said Qurayshi was responsible for recent attacks in northeastern Syria and was the “driving force” behind Islamic State operations against the Yazidi people in northwestern Iraq in 2014, brutal assaults that have been called genocide.

“Last night’s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield, and it sent a strong message to terrorists around the world,” Biden said. “We will come after you and find you once again.”

Ahmed, a resident who said he lives less than two miles from the scene of the raid and who spoke on the condition that he be identified by only his first name due to safety concerns, said in a telephone interview that he heard helicopters as he was preparing to go to sleep at around 1 a.m.

The sound was not unfamiliar in the area — helicopters often arrived to switch out Turkish troops stationed nearby, he said. But this was different.

“The sound was horrible,” he said. He went to his roof, he said, and saw machine-gun fire emanating from one of the helicopters. The gunfire and the sounds from the helicopters subsided around 4 a.m., he said.

Mahmoud al-Sheikh, who works at an auto repair shop less than a mile from the house, said he did not know who lived there but often used to see “small children and women coming in and out.” There was nothing terribly extraordinary about the men in the house, he added, saying they did not outwardly match the description of hard-line Islamist fighters who often wore long beards.

At one point during the events, he heard someone saying, “Children and women, leave. We are entering the house.”

A mechanical issue with a helicopter as U.S. troops arrived near the home of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in Syria prompted the Americans to fly it a short distance away and then detonate it, senior administration officials said Thursday.

News photographers captured images of the wreckage a short distance away, where the decision was made to destroy the aircraft, a senior administration official said. The helicopter did not suffer a crash of any kind, but the Americans assessed that it was “not going to be usable” for the next planned flight as they departed the area, the official added.

The official said the helicopter was detonated “well distant” from the raid site, “well beyond any kind of visual range.”

The mechanical malfunction and detonation in place of an aircraft had similarities to at least two other complex U.S. raids.

A helicopter was destroyed by U.S. troops after a controlled crash landing in the 2011 raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which Navy SEALs killed al-Queda leader Osama bin Laden. In 2017, an MV-22 Osprey was detonated by U.S. Special Operations forces in a raid in Yemen after a “hard landing.” The latter operation, at the outset of the Trump administration, included the death of Chief Petty Officer Ryan Owens, a Navy SEAL.