Breitbart reports that the raid conducted in Syria by the U.S. military on Thursday, at the “direction” of President Joe Biden, resulted in the death of 13 individuals including six children and four women.
This, according to the outlet has been confirmed by the Pentagon.
The raid
U.S. Special Operations forces conducted the raid during the early hours of Thursday morning in northwestern Syria. The target was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
According to Fox News, Al-Qurayshi had been working undercover to try to rebuild ISIS following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the group. The U.S. State Department had put up a $10 million reward for anyone who could provide information that would lead to the identification or location of Al-Qurayshi.
The raid, according to eyewitness reports, took place around 1 am on Thursday, and it lasted for roughly two hours. For the first 45 minutes, translators attempted to get any women to surrender or leave the area. Then, after a period of silence, gunfire broke out.
Reports indicate that, as U.S. troops approached Al-Qurayshi, he detonated a suicide bomb. With that bomb, Al-Qurayshi, the Pentagon has confirmed, killed not only himself but also several members of his family.
It is unclear, though, whether this accounts for the six women and four children who were killed during the raid.
The aftermath
John Kirby, the press secretary for the Department of Defense, put out a statement indicating that the raid was “successful.” He also said that there were “no U.S. casualties.”
President Biden also put out a statement, saying, “last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place.”
Biden added, “I’m determined to protect the American people from terrorist threats and I’ll take decisive action to protect this country.”
Attention has now turned to whether or not someone will take over for Al-Qurayshiy. Kirby said that the Biden administration is “going to assume that they are going to try to replace him.”
“They certainly have expressed indications that they would like to continue to attack the West, even our homeland,” he explained. “So this is a group that we are keeping an eye on and we have to assume that there will be another leader that will step up to try to lead the group.”
