US kills top Islamic State leader in Syria, Pentagon says
Syria's Kurdish-led forces alleged Maher al-Aghal was also affiliated with Turkey-backed opposition group Ahrar al-Sharqiya.
A US drone strike on Tuesday killed the leader of the Islamic State group in Syria, the US military announced today.
Maher al-Agal was killed near the town of Jidayris in Syria’s Afrin region, according to US Central Command. Another senior IS official “closely associated with Maher” was seriously wounded in the strike.
Al-Agal was the commander of the jihadist group’s branch in Syria and a one of its five highest-ranking leaders, according to CENTCOM. He was “responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of [IS] networks outside of Iraq and Syria,” the military said in a statement today.
Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the US-backed Syrian Kurdish-led militias in Syria, tweeted that al-Agal was also affiliated with an Islamist Syrian opposition group, Ahrar al-Sharqiya.
