Daesh confirms death of its leader, names replacement

KABUL (Agencies): Daesh on Thursday confirmed the death of its leader Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi and named Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as his replacement, the group’s spokesperson said in an undated recording published on its Telegram channel.
It appeared to be the militant group’s first official announcement on his fate since Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said in April that Turkish intelligence forces had killed him in Syria, Reuters reported.
Erdogan said the Turkish national intelligence organization had pursued Quraishi for a long time.
Quraishi was killed during a gun battle with Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the main Islamist group that holds sway in the last opposition bastion in northwest Syria, the spokesman said.
Daesh that once ruled a third of Iraq and Syria, gave no details about the new leader, Reuters reported. Daesh reached its peak in 2014 when its then head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the territory it controlled a caliphate.
It was beaten back by adversaries in both countries including a U.S.-led coalition, and Baghdadi was killed during a U.S. military operation in Syria in 2019. According to Reuters Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi took over in November 2022 after his predecessor was killed, also in Syria. Daesh militants continue to wage insurgent attacks in both Syria and Iraq. Its remaining thousands of militants have in recent years mostly hid out in remote hinterlands of both countries, though they are still capable of carrying out hit-and-run attacks. The U.S.-led coalition alongside a Kurdish-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is still carrying out raids against Daesh in Syria.