ISIS Confirms Death of its Leader, Names New Chief

The house where Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was killed. AP
The house where Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was killed. AP
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ISIS Confirms Death of its Leader, Names New Chief

The house where Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was killed. AP
The house where Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was killed. AP

ISIS confirmed on Thursday the death of its leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi and its spokesperson Abu Hamza Al-Quraishi, and announced Abu Al-Hassan Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi as its new chief.

Quraishi died in a US special forces raid in northern Syria in February when he detonated a bomb that killed him and family members, the US administration said.

The death of Quraishi, 45, was another crushing blow to ISIS two years after the violent group lost longtime leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a similar raid in 2019.

The group did not deny or confirm the US narrative and the new ISIS spokesman, Abu Umar al Muhajir, said in a recorded speech on Thursday that Quraishi's last battle was at Ghuwayran prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka.

At least 200 prison inmates and militants as well as 30 security forces died in an ISIS attack on the jail in January in a bid to free their members, officials have said.



Syrian Government Denies its Forces Preparing to Redeploy to Sweida

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
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Syrian Government Denies its Forces Preparing to Redeploy to Sweida

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo

Syria's interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday that government forces were not preparing to deploy to Sweida Province, the state news agency reported.

Noureddin al-Baba denied a Reuters report citing an interior ministry media officer as saying security forces were preparing to redeploy to Druze-majority Sweida city to quell fighting involving Bedouin tribes and the Druze.

A fragile truce was holding in Syria's south on Friday after a ceasefire announced on Wednesday briefly ended days of fighting that began when Bedouin and Druze fighters clashed in Sweida province in southern Syria, prompting the Syrian government to send in troops.

Syrian troops withdrew from Sweida after the truce was announced but clashes resumed late on Thursday.

Israel's military carried out new attacks in Sweida province overnight.

Israel has said it would not allow Syria's government to deploy troops to the south.