Iraqi Forces Capture Deputy of ISIS Slain Leader Baghdadi, Says PM

Iraq has captured Sami Jasim, a high-ranking member of ISIS in charge of the group's finance and a deputy of slain leader. (Reuters file photo)
Iraq has captured Sami Jasim, a high-ranking member of ISIS in charge of the group's finance and a deputy of slain leader. (Reuters file photo)
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Iraqi Forces Capture Deputy of ISIS Slain Leader Baghdadi, Says PM

Iraq has captured Sami Jasim, a high-ranking member of ISIS in charge of the group's finance and a deputy of slain leader. (Reuters file photo)
Iraq has captured Sami Jasim, a high-ranking member of ISIS in charge of the group's finance and a deputy of slain leader. (Reuters file photo)

Iraqi security forces have captured a senior member of the ISIS group who was a deputy to slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and oversaw its finances, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said on Monday.

Sami Jasim was detained in “a complex external operation” by Iraqi intelligence services, Kadhimi wrote on Twitter, without giving further details or saying where he had been captured.

Jasim, an Iraqi national, is one of ISIS’ core leaders who may offer valuable information on the group’s operations, said Hassan Hassan, an expert on the group. He is only the second senior ISIS leader to be taken alive, he said.

Baghdadi, who declared himself leader of a cross-border “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq in 2014, was killed in an operation by US special forces in northwestern Syria in 2019.

While ISIS was driven out of most of the territory it once held in Syria and Iraq several years ago, Western military officials estimate that it still has at least 10,000 fighters across the two countries, typically in remote areas.

“While we are not commenting on any specific operation, we applaud our brave Iraqi partners as they regularly lead and conduct destructive blows to the remnants of (ISIS),” lieutenant colonel Joel Harper, spokesman for the US-led coalition, said in a response to a question from Reuters about Jasim’s capture.

The US-led coalition is working with Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria against remnants of the group. In Iraq, ISIS militants still wage regular attacks on police, army and Iraqi state paramilitary units, killing dozens of police and fighters in the past year.

Hassan, author of a book on ISIS and editor in chief of New Lines Magazine, said Jasim is a member of ISIS’ top leadership council, the delegated committee, which has between half a dozen and a dozen members, and is a close aide of the group’s leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi.

His role had expanded from overseer of the group’s finances to coordinating activities between Iraq and Syria, Hassan said.

“He is involved in the day-to-day operations of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, so strategically and tactically, this is a significant capture for the Iraqis,” he told Reuters.

“Usually, (ISIS leaders) blow themselves up or fight to the end.”

According to the website of the US Department of State’s counter-terrorism rewards program, Rewards for Justice, Jasim has been “instrumental in managing finances for ISIS’s terrorist operations”.

“While serving as ISIS deputy in southern Mosul in 2014, he reportedly served as the equivalent of ISIS´s finance minister, supervising the group´s revenue-generating operations from illicit sales of oil, gas, antiquities, and minerals,” it says.



Demarcating the Lebanese–Syrian Border Tops Agenda of Trump’s Envoy in Beirut

Talks between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US envoy Thomas Barrack two weeks ago in Beirut (AP). 
Talks between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US envoy Thomas Barrack two weeks ago in Beirut (AP). 
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Demarcating the Lebanese–Syrian Border Tops Agenda of Trump’s Envoy in Beirut

Talks between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US envoy Thomas Barrack two weeks ago in Beirut (AP). 
Talks between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US envoy Thomas Barrack two weeks ago in Beirut (AP). 

US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Syria, is prioritizing the demarcation of the Lebanese–Syrian border during his meetings in Beirut this week with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Army leadership.

The border issue is expected to feature prominently in Lebanon’s response to proposals Barrack presented, as he considers it essential for establishing a mechanism to implement the ceasefire agreement with Israel and asserting Lebanese sovereignty under UN Resolution 1701.

According to Lebanese ministerial sources speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Saudi Arabia recently hosted a Lebanese–Syrian meeting that defused tensions and ended clashes across the overlapping areas between the two countries in northern Bekaa. Riyadh’s mediation created a favorable climate to advance border demarcation along the roughly 375-kilometer frontier from north to east.

Saudi sponsorship of this process, along with measures by the joint Lebanese–Syrian committee to prevent further clashes, strengthened Washington’s interest in supporting these efforts. Much of the violence has stemmed from rival smuggling networks once protected by the former Syrian regime and used for trafficking Captagon into Lebanon and beyond.

Calls to demarcate the border date back to the National Dialogue Committee’s first session in 2006, convened by Berri. At Hezbollah’s request, the term “demarcation” was replaced with “delineation,” arguing it was more appropriate for relations between “brotherly nations.” Nevertheless, the issue remained unresolved as Syria refused to engage in formal negotiations, especially before the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, when Damascus consistently blocked references to completing the Taif Agreement or withdrawing Syrian troops from Beirut.

Later attempts during Saad Hariri’s premiership under President Michel Sleiman also stalled when President Bashar al-Assad declined to cooperate, citing other priorities. Illegal crossings continued to proliferate, justified as necessary for Hezbollah’s movement to avoid Israeli monitoring and to maintain unregulated “military routes” for arms smuggling.

Sources revealed that in a Damascus meeting co-chaired by Hariri and Assad, Lebanon requested not only border demarcation but also a review of bilateral agreements under the Treaty of Brotherhood to address their pro-Syrian bias. While the status of the occupied Shebaa Farms was briefly raised, it was withdrawn to avoid jeopardizing talks. Though an agreement was reached to start demarcation from the northern border, Syrian officials later backed out, citing preoccupation with the Jordanian border.

Lebanon has since prepared a detailed file with maps and coordinates, ready to support renewed negotiations under President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Officials believe the time is now ripe to demarcate the border and end agreements that once facilitated Syria’s dominance over Lebanon.