Islamic State

Oct. 8 (UPI) — The U.S. military has killed a senior member of an Al-Qaida-affiliated terrroist group in Syria, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

Muhammad Abd-al-Wahhab al-Ahmad was killed Thursday in a U.S. CENTCOM airstrike, the exact location in Syria was not made public.

“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain postured to disrupt and defeat efforts by terrorists to plan, organize and conduct attacks,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement.

“We will continue to defend our homeland, warfighters, allies and partners throughout the region.”

CENTCOM identified al-Ahmad as an “attack planner” with Ansar al-Islam, a military group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in March 2004.

According to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations think tank, Ansar al-Islam, meaning Supporters of Islam, is a militant Islamic Kurdish separatist movement that seeks to reshape Iraq as an Islamic state and was reportedly formed in 2001 with support from al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.

The air strike comes a little under two months since CENTCOM forces killed a senior ISIS member and key financier in a northern Syria raid on Aug. 19.

In late February, CENTCOM forces killed a senior military leader of the Al-Qaida-affiliated Hurras al-Din terrorist group in an airstrike in northwest Syria.

Sept. 7 (UPI) — More than 60 people were killed in overnight attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northern Nigerian state of Borno, local officials said. At least five of the people killed were soldiers.

The militants struck the village of Darul Jamal, the location of a military base along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. The Nigerian Air Force said it killed 30 militants after it received reports of attacks on the village.

“In a series of three precise and successive strikes, the fleeing terrorists were decisively engaged, resulting in the neutralization of over 30 insurgents,” Nigerian Air Force spokesperson Ehimen Ejodame said, according to BBC News.

Ejodame said the insurgents were fleeing north from the town toward nearby bushes.

Residents recently returned to the rebuilding village after years of being displaced by fighting between Boko Haram and rival groups, including the West African branch of the Islamic State group, authorities said.

“This community was settled a few months ago and they went about their normal activities, but unfortunately, they experienced a Boko Haram attack last night,” Gov. Babagana Zulum told local media. “Our visit is to commiserate with them and build their resilience.”

Zulum called for the immediate deployment of newly trained specialty guards to help the military defend vulnerable communities.

A decade ago, Boko Haram controlled large areas of Borno state before being pushed back.

June 23 (UPI) — More than 22 people were killed and another nearly 60 were injured when an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a church in the Syrian capital of Damascus, officials said.

The attack occurred Sunday at the St. Elias Church in the Al-Douweila neighborhood of the capital city.

The Syrian ministry of interior said in a statement on X that the suicide bomber entered the church, opened fire and then detonated their explosive vest.

Security forces reportedly rushed to the scene and cordoned off the entire area permitting specialized teams to begin their investigation, it said.

“These terrorist acts will not deter the Syrian state’s efforts to achieve civil peace, nor will they deter Syrians from their choice to unite in the face of all those who seek to undermine their stability and security,” Interior Minister Anas Khattab said in a statement on X

The casualty toll was initially reported by the ministry of health as nine dead and 13 injured, but the count has steadily climbed in the hours following the attack to 22 killed and 59 injured.

Photos published to the health ministry’s social media accounts show officials, including Assistant Minister of Health Hussein Al-Khatib, meeting with injured victims of the attack.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch posted graphic photos of the aftermath of the attack, showing blood-strewn floors and what appear to be the remains of bodies.

“The arrow of lawlessness was unleashed and struck our souls in the night,” it said in a statement.

“We pray for the repose of the souls of the martyrs, for the healing of the wounded and for the comfort of the faithful of the Church.”

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen condemned the attack in a statement, expressing his outrage at “this heinous crime.”

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Tom Barrack also offered his condolences.

“These terrible acts of cowardice have no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving,” he said on X.

“We continue to support the Syrian government as it fights against those who are seeking to create instability and fear in their country and the broader region.”

June 3 (UPI) — A 49-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who pleaded guilty to charges of fighting U.S.-led coalition forces as an Islamic State militant has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Lirim Sylejmani was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in December to charges of receiving military training from ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“The defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement.

Sylejmani and his family were detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria on Feb. 27, 2019, as coalition fighters made their final advances on ISIS’ last caliphate in the country, which fell the next month.

He was then transferred to U.S. law enforcement on Sept. 15 the following year to face charges in the United States.

According to prosecutors, Sylejmani worked with ISIS from November 2015, when he moved from Kosovo to Syria to join the militant group, to the day of his capture.

Prosecutors said he changed his name to Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi and trained alongside other recruits to be an ISIS soldier following his arrival in the Middle Eastern country. His training included instruction on using AK-47 rifles, PK machine guns, M-16 rifles and grenades.

The Justice Department said he fought against the Syrian Democratic Forces and was wounded in battle, having been hit by shrapnel in the leg. Because of the injury, he was reassigned to a different battalion in the fall of 2017. Prosecutors said he was paid for his services by ISIS.

After being captured, Sylejmani spoke with various media outlets, telling NPR in late 2019 that he and his family arrived in Syria via Canada. He said ISIS promised them free housing, electricity and water, but instead, they “starved” living under the caliphate.

“Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again,” Pirro said. “We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens.”

May 31 (UPI) — The Islamic State claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in a remote region in southern Syria on Wednesday and Thursday.

The twin bombings mark the first time ISIS has attacked the new Syrian government that took power in December and occurred in the remote Sweida Province.

ISIS posted two online statements on Thursday claiming responsibility for the bombings that killed and wounded Syrian soldiers and militia members who are allied with the Syrian government, The New York Times reported.

An attack occurred on Wednesday and struck a Syrian Army reconnaissance group that was tracking ISIS activities in the remote desert area, CNN reported.

Those wounded in that attack are members of the Syrian Army’s 70th Division, and the man who died was assisting the soldiers, according to The New York Times.

ISIS used a remote-controlled land mine to target the vehicle in which they were traveling, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced.

That attack occurred in the eastern portion of the Sweida Province and was the first attack carried out by ISIS and targeting forces allied with the new Syrian government.

A second bombing occurred on Thursday in the same region, according to news reports and ISIS.

ISIS said it killed and injured seven soldiers for the “apostate Syrian regime” by using an explosive device on a road in the Talul al Safa area in the Suwayda province in southern Syria, Al Jazeera reported.

Both attacks occurred near Sweida in southern Syria, which is a mountainous desert area in which ISIS has operated for many years.

Neither the Syrian government nor the Free Syrian Army has commented on either bombing.

The United States backs the Free Syrian Army, which operates in the Sweida region’s al Tanf Deconfliction Zone that is located near Syria’s borders with Jordan.

The United States maintains a small outpost in the area.

ISIS also has operated in the area for a long time due to its “extremely rugged and dangerous” terrain, CNN reported.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he he was lifting “crippling” U.S. sanctions on Syria originally imposed to block flows of money into Syria, including aid, to put pressure on the brutal regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

He met with the country’s transitional leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May14.

Al-Sharaa, who was appointed president in January, has promised to hold elections once a new constitution is in place in around four years.

May 14 (UPI) — For a third straight day, the United States on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting Iran as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with the Middle Eastern country.

The punitive measures imposed by the Treasury Department are secondary sanctions, meaning those aimed and punishing third parties for dealing with previously designated entities, individuals and countries.

The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities in China and Iran accused of aiding Tehran source the manufacturing of critical materials used in the Islamic state’s ballistic missile program, specifically carbon fiber materials used in the construction of intercontinental rockets.

The State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement that Iran is “heavily reliant on China to conduct its malign activities in the Middle East.”

The targets work with the U.S.-sanctioned elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The United States cannot allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“The Iranian regime’s relentless and irresponsible pursuit of advanced ballistic missile capabilities, including its efforts to indigenize its production capacity, represents an unacceptable threat to the United States and the stability of the region.”

The sanctions are the third batch of Iran-targeted punitive measures that the Trump administration has imposed this week as it engages in negotiations with Iran on a new agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon — a goal long held by President Donald Trump.

In 2018, during his first term in the White House, Trump slapped sanctions on Iran and unilaterally pulled the United States from a landmark Obama-era multinational accord, calling it “defective at its core.”

He pursued a so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive measures, but failed to coerce Iran back to the negotiating table, and it instead advanced its nuclear weapons capability to the point the U.S. government estimated in 2022 that it would need just a week to produce enough weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

In February, Trump reinstated his maximum pressure policy, which includes the recent batches of further sanctions.

The United States and Iran have had four recent negotiations on a new deal, but there does not appear to be a fifth round scheduled yet.

Trump administration officials have said a deal would see Iran dismantle its three enrichment facilities, but Iranian officials have said it will not stop enriching uranium but would be open to restrictions.

Trump is in the Middle East this week for a four-day trip, and has repeatedly voiced optimism that a deal can be made.

“I have a feeling it’s going to work out. I think it’s going to work. It’s got to work out, one way or the other we know it’s going to work out,” Trump said during a press conference Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

Later to reporters aboard Air Force One, he was more direct with his threats against Iran.

“One way or the other. It’s very simple. It’s going to happen one way or the other. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, we will either do it friendly, or we will do it very unfriendly, and that won’t be pleasant,” he said.

The Trump administration has said it has sanctioned more than 250 people, entities and vessels related to Iran and its proxies since February.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s new leader, praising him as a “young, attractive guy” and urging him to rid his country of “Palestinian terrorists.”

Trump also urged Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to sign onto the historic Abraham Accords brokered during Trump’s first term.

The meeting in Riyadh came as Trump concluded the Saudi Arabian leg of his Middle Eastern trip and headed to Qatar, the second destination of what has so far been an opulence-heavy tour of the region.

The meeting with Al-Sharaa, which lasted roughly half an hour and was the first time in a quarter of a century that the leaders of the two nations have met, marks a significant victory for Al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, coming one day after Trump’s decision to lift long-standing sanctions from the war-ravaged country.

It also lends legitimacy to a leader whose past as an Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadi leader — Al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016 — had made Western nations keep him at arm’s length.

The sanctions were imposed on Syria in 2011, when the now-deposed President Bashar Assad began a brutal crackdown to quell anti-government uprisings.

Al-Sharaa headed an Islamist rebel coalition that toppled Assad in December, but the Trump administration and other Western governments conditioned the lifting of sanctions on his government fulfilling certain conditions.

Yet as is his custom, Trump cut through protocol and relied on personal relations, lifting the sanctions at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a long-time supporter of Syria’s rebellion, who joined the meeting via phone.

Speaking on Air Force One en route to Qatar, Trump described Al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Trump added. “I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.”

According to a readout shared by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, Trump urged Al-Sharaa to sign onto the Abraham Accords, tell “foreign terrorists” to leave Syria and deport “Palestinian terrorists,” help the U.S. in preventing Islamic State’s resurgence and assume responsibility for detention centers in northeast Syria housing thousands of people affiliated with Islamic State.

The Abraham Accords were the centerpiece of Trump’s foreign policy achievements in his first term. Brokered in 2020, they established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — without conditioning them on Palestinian statehood or Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.

Under Assad, Syria maintained a decades-old truce with Israel, despite hosting several Palestinian factions and allowing Iran and affiliated groups to operate in the country.