The Japan Times - 'Incredibly complex': the raid that killed IS chief

EUR -
AED 4.02547
AFN 78.958383
ALL 99.102869
AMD 431.181955
ANG 1.961978
AOA 1003.890567
ARS 1184.765046
AUD 1.813586
AWG 1.97271
AZN 1.867466
BAM 1.955265
BBD 2.22659
BDT 133.983319
BGN 1.957778
BHD 0.412787
BIF 3277.602688
BMD 1.09595
BND 1.474296
BOB 7.619914
BRL 6.405394
BSD 1.102698
BTN 94.079244
BWP 15.358795
BYN 3.608812
BYR 21480.619234
BZD 2.215094
CAD 1.559263
CDF 3148.664634
CHF 0.944431
CLF 0.02729
CLP 1047.223301
CNY 7.980215
CNH 7.994999
COP 4582.945323
CRC 557.847278
CUC 1.09595
CUP 29.042674
CVE 110.234821
CZK 25.256829
DJF 196.376238
DKK 7.461451
DOP 69.640934
DZD 146.03502
EGP 55.406831
ERN 16.439249
ETB 145.347308
FJD 2.537019
FKP 0.847795
GBP 0.850992
GEL 3.01429
GGP 0.847795
GHS 16.970527
GIP 0.847795
GMD 78.997119
GNF 9480.074229
GTQ 8.45127
GYD 228.536272
HKD 8.520633
HNL 28.038338
HRK 7.531044
HTG 143.530764
HUF 404.54591
IDR 18346.949665
ILS 4.100568
IMP 0.847795
INR 93.650132
IQD 1430.891791
IRR 46360.405806
ISK 144.204462
JEP 0.847795
JMD 172.42419
JOD 0.777072
JPY 161.061946
KES 141.527433
KGS 95.002298
KHR 4365.330633
KMF 489.529208
KPW 986.361205
KRW 1599.015607
KWD 0.337157
KYD 0.910826
KZT 556.162432
LAK 23685.841231
LBP 98372.711411
LKR 324.07413
LRD 218.985421
LSL 20.902803
LTL 3.236056
LVL 0.66293
LYD 5.289988
MAD 10.429326
MDL 19.551233
MGA 5069.578931
MKD 61.05679
MMK 2300.919896
MNT 3846.361639
MOP 8.775473
MRU 43.593447
MUR 49.000806
MVR 16.923331
MWK 1897.317993
MXN 22.386696
MYR 4.861215
MZN 70.003894
NAD 20.902803
NGN 1681.066767
NIO 40.290501
NOK 11.790932
NPR 149.910449
NZD 1.95777
OMR 0.421946
PAB 1.09595
PEN 4.037053
PGK 4.46999
PHP 62.764717
PKR 306.904853
PLN 4.245513
PYG 8757.469729
QAR 3.989667
RON 4.952931
RSD 116.586887
RUB 93.840941
RWF 1555.449869
SAR 4.110221
SBD 9.312612
SCR 15.97682
SDG 658.021292
SEK 10.947921
SGD 1.470849
SHP 0.861245
SLE 24.933268
SLL 22981.523891
SOS 624.324825
SRD 40.248477
STD 22683.951476
SVC 9.589967
SYP 14249.994157
SZL 20.902803
THB 37.792726
TJS 11.899889
TMT 3.833642
TND 3.357047
TOP 2.638671
TRY 41.641737
TTD 7.422798
TWD 36.332658
TZS 2923.758392
UAH 45.158896
UGX 4009.400205
USD 1.09595
UYU 46.167964
UZS 14171.813622
VES 77.086835
VND 28252.54745
VUV 134.896075
WST 3.078778
XAF 652.705611
XAG 0.037037
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.966325
XDR 0.817067
XOF 652.705611
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.409315
ZAR 20.929909
ZMK 9864.868719
ZMW 30.636217
ZWL 352.89544
  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

'Incredibly complex': the raid that killed IS chief
'Incredibly complex': the raid that killed IS chief

'Incredibly complex': the raid that killed IS chief

By early December, US intelligence was certain of it: the man occupying the top floor of a nondescript house in Atme, northern Syria -- who never left the premises, emerging only to bathe on the roof -- was the head of the Islamic State group.

Text size:

In the White House Situation room, a table-top model of the house was set up, and President Joe Biden was briefed on his options to neutralize Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, one of America's most wanted jihadist targets.

US officials say they could have easily killed Qurashi -- whose location they had narrowed down last year before pinpointing it -- with a precision missile.

Biden chose a riskier course, said a senior US official briefing reporters on the raid, to reduce the possibility of killing the civilians also living in the three-level cinderblock home, set amid olive trees near the border with Turkey.

The Special Operations Forces assault launched in the early hours of Thursday was "incredibly complex," the official said, given the number of nearby homes and the presence of women and multiple children in the building.

In the end, as elite US troops surrounded the house calling for all inside to come out, Qurashi blew himself up along with his wife and two children -- an outcome US forces had prepared for but hoped against.

The operation had been rehearsed in detail several times, the official said.

Special forces trained for everything from a surrender to a firefight. One possibility was that Qurashi would blow himself up.

"One of our main concerns was that he would kill himself and the structure would collapse killing everyone else in the building," said a senior military official.

The official said the operation team consulted engineers on the strength of the concrete building. They concluded with "high confidence" that an explosion would only destroy the top floor.

The hideout's location in Idlib province was just 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of where Qurashi's IS predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, likewise killed himself in October 2019 to avoid capture in a US commando raid.

The United States had placed a $10 million reward on Qurashi's head soon after he took over at the helm of IS.

At the beginning of this week Biden was briefed on the situation, and gave the operational go-ahead Tuesday morning at the White House.

- Questions on civilian deaths -

The operation went almost all according to plan.

As Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other officials monitored in real time in the Situation Room, helicopters flew in US commandos, reportedly about two dozen, who surrounded the building and warned neighbors to stay away.

The team called on everyone to exit the building, and a couple and their children living on the first level emerged and were taken to safety, the senior official explained.

Moments later, the top floor erupted with an explosion, tearing off half of the structure, but leaving the level below intact.

US forces began moving in, but a couple on the second floor barricaded themselves in their residence and began firing on them.

"The ISIS lieutenant and his wife were killed," the official said, without offering details, adding that four children had emerged to be taken to safety.

After the raid open questions remained about how many people actually died.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven civilians were among at least 13 people killed in the operation, four of them children.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at least three civilians died -- Qurashi's wife and their two children.

The US military official meanwhile said eight children and two adults were saved. But the official allowed that it was not clear how many children were on the top floor when it exploded, and that a couple on the floor below may have had more children with them.

In operational terms, officials said, the only mishap was that one of the helicopters that delivered the commandos to the location developed mechanical problems and landed in a nearby field, where it was destroyed.

That echoed the 2011 raid on the Pakistan compound of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, where a Special Operations helicopter crash-landed and also had to be destroyed, due to sensitive technology it carried.

In addition, unknown local gunmen began firing on the US troops late in the operation, and US troops fired back. The official said at least two of them were killed, with no Americans injured.

H.Hayashi--JT