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The helicopter raid was practised over and again by US soldiers in the hopes of apprehending Islamic State’s leader, who was holed up with his family on the third floor of a residential building in a Syrian village near the Turkish border.
However, before they could reach him, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi detonated a suicide bomb, causing a massive explosion that threw mangled bodies out of the building and into the streets outside, including his own.
Quraishi’s suicide was described as a “last act of desperate cowardice” by President Joe Biden, who watched the raid from the Situation Room in the White House. It recalled his predecessor, Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi’s, self-detonation of a bomb during a US operation in Syria in 2019.
The events in Atmeh were horrifying for residents, as US Marines swooped in on helicopters before attempting to remove occupants from the cinder-block building, using loudspeakers to order them to leave.
“Hands up if you’re a man, a woman, or a kid. The American coalition that surrounds the area protects you. If you don’t escape, you’ll perish “Recounting the US threats, one woman said.
Six civilians, including four children, were evacuated from the first storey of the building before the blast blasted apart the top floor, according to Marine General Frank McKenzie, who leads US forces in the region and was providing updates to Biden.
“The explosion, which was larger than expected from a suicide vest, killed everyone on the third level and ejected many people from the building,” McKenzie said, adding that Quraishi, his wife, and two children were murdered.
As American troops neared the second storey, one of Quraishi’s lieutenants and his wife opened fire on the Americans, killing one of them. According to McKenzie, one child was found dead on the second floor, while three other children and an infant were rescued.
At least 13 individuals were killed, most of them women and children, according to Syrian rescue personnel.
At least two armed members of a local al Qaeda affiliate were killed by gunfire from a US helicopter after approaching the raid site while US troops were still present, according to the Pentagon.
THIRD FLOOR OBJECTIVE
Quraishi’s execution, according to US authorities, was yet another defeat for an organisation that once ruled a self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Syria and Iraq. It is now fighting guerrilla warfare.
Officials revealed that planning for the operation began in early December when they became certain that the Islamic State leader was living in the building.
Quraishi seldom left his third-floor apartment and relied on couriers to communicate with the outside world, according to one official.
According to them, the number of children seen in the area and families believed to be residing on the first floor prompted US officials to try to devise an operation aimed at protecting civilians.
The officials stated that instead of launching a distant strike, putting U.S. Marines at risk in a raid was the best option.
According to US officials, Biden issued final authorization for the mission during an Oval Office meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, who is the highest American military leader as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Officials stated that as they watched the operation unfold from the Situation Room, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other administration officials received real-time reports from Austin, Milley, and McKenzie.
According to the Pentagon, one of the raid’s helicopters suffered a mechanical breakdown and had to be destroyed rather than left behind.
Once U.S. forces were wheeled up after the operation, Biden shouted “God bless our men” and maintained an eye on them throughout the night until they flew to safety, officials said.
