| Day 2 can be seen here; Day 1 is here. See also this cynical Russian take. |
It was an audacious raid in an bully boy stronghold of northwest Syria, months in the works, and executed with the understanding that children might die as well as the hunted IS chief if the building’s occupants did not get out when given the chance to leave.
Over months of planning, US intelligence first had to locate al-Qurayshi’s whereabouts and understand his movements — or lack thereof. They concluded he rarely, if ever, left his family’s third-floor quarters except to bathe on the building’s roof.
Anticipating that al-Qurayshi could well choose death by self-detonation if cornered by US forces, US officials commissioned an engineering study-from-afar of the three-story, cinder-block building to see if it would collapse in that event and kill everyone inside.
They concluded that enough of the building was likely to survive such a blast to spare those not near him.
They constructed a tabletop model of the house and in December set it up in the Situation Room, the ultra-secure White House command and communications post where presidents and their national security aides manage crises.
The second floor of the Syrian house, also white, was occupied by a lower-ranking Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
leader and his family. The ground floor, partly a basement, housed a family unconnected to the Islamic State and unaware of al-Qurayshi’s presence or significance, US officials said.
Biden was first briefed in depth more than a month ago by operational commanders after US forces were satisfied they would find al-Qurayshi — also known as Haji Abdullah — where they did.
For all his brinkmanship with Russia as it amasses its forces for a possible new invasion of Ukraine, Biden could not afford to take his eyes off IS.
On Tuesday morning, he met Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Oval Office and gave the go-ahead. Wednesday evening in Washington, Biden was in the Situation Room, monitoring a live feed of the mission as it unfolded.
The US launched the raid from an unidentified base in the region after having "deconflicted" the mission with "a range of entities." That’s jargon for giving certain other military forces or interests in the region — perhaps Russia — notice of a US operation underway.
At the outset, the building’s occupants were told to get out.
"If you don’t leave, we have orders," a man speaking with Iraqi dialect could be heard saying through a loudspeaker. "We will fire missiles toward the house. There are drones overhead."
Ten people left the building, said Pentagon front man John Kirby — a man and woman from the first floor and eight children in all from the first and second.
Not long after came the earth-shattering kaboom that collapsed much of the third story and blew bodies out of the house, al-Qurayshi’s among them. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the blast was more massive than one that would be expected from a boom jacket.
From the second floor, the barricaded IS lieutenant, whom officials did not identify, and a woman thought to be his wife exchanged sustained gunfire with the commandos, US officials said. Both died in the firefight, US officials said, and one child with them was also found dead, McKenzie said.
The special operations forces conducting the mission faced danger from outside the building as well.
While the commandos were clearing the second floor, a number of imported muscle linked to al-Qaeda in Syria "began maneuvering with weapons toward US forces" at the scene, McKenzie said. Gunfire from a US helicopter killed at least two of them, he said.
Another helicopter developed a significant malfunction, McKenzie said. After landing it safely, away from the scene, the Americans rigged it to explode, then struck it with munitions from the air to be doubly sure "no sensitive equipment would remain in Syria."
When the commandos safely departed, Biden uttered "God bless our troops," according to a US official who briefed the press on condition of anonymity.
"You know, Beau and Hunter served. Beau was killed in battle"
Biden was kept abreast of their long flight out of Syria overnight by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.
“As US forces continued inside the building and began making call-outs to the second floor, two barricaded combatants hiding among children began firing at US forces. In this engagement, one child was found dead along with the two combatants,” Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth F. McKenzie said while describing the details of the operation.
“While the second-floor clearance was underway, multiple fighters assessed to be linked to local Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria began maneuvering with weapons towards US forces on the objectives. At least 2 of these fighters were killed in a gun engagement from a helicopter in defense of US forces,” he added.
The US forces found the ISIS leader dead on the ground outside the building due to the force of the self-initiated explosion. Fingerprint and DNA analysis confirmed that the body belonged to Qurayshi, McKenzie said. Twelve other people were also reported dead.
Qurayshi, referred to as Haji Abdullah by US officials, was hiding in Atmeh town in Idlib, around 15 kilometers north of where his predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up in a US special forces raid in October 2019.