US Central Command Says It Killed ISIS Leader in Eastern Syria

Passersby and gunmen gather at the site of a reported drone strike in Bzaah town near al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo governorate on July 7, 2023. (AFP)
Passersby and gunmen gather at the site of a reported drone strike in Bzaah town near al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo governorate on July 7, 2023. (AFP)
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US Central Command Says It Killed ISIS Leader in Eastern Syria

Passersby and gunmen gather at the site of a reported drone strike in Bzaah town near al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo governorate on July 7, 2023. (AFP)
Passersby and gunmen gather at the site of a reported drone strike in Bzaah town near al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo governorate on July 7, 2023. (AFP)

The US Central Command said on Sunday it conducted a drone strike on July 7 that killed an ISIS leader in Eastern Syria.

It used the same MQ-9 drones in the attack that had "earlier in the day been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours", it said in a statement.

"US Central Command conducted a strike in Syria that resulted in the death of Usamah al-Muhajir, an ISIS leader in eastern Syria," it said without giving any more details on al-Muhajir.

Washington has in the last year stepped up raids and operations against suspected ISIS operatives in Syria, killing and arresting various of its leaders who had taken shelter in areas under Türkiye-backed opposition control after the group lost its last territory in Syria in 2019.

The US-led campaign which killed former ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who had declared himself the "caliph of all Muslims", has since targeted its surviving leaders, many of whom are thought to have planned attacks abroad.

US military commanders say ISIS remains a significant threat within the region, however, though its capabilities have been degraded and its ability to re-establish its network weakened.

ISIS controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria at its peak in 2014. Though it was beaten back in both countries, its militants continue to wage insurgent attacks.



Barrack in Beirut for Talks on Hezbollah Disarmament

A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 7, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with US envoy Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 7, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with US envoy Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
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Barrack in Beirut for Talks on Hezbollah Disarmament

A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 7, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with US envoy Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
A handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 7, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with US envoy Thomas Barrack at the presidential palace of Baabda east of Beirut. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

US envoy Thomas Barrack met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday to discuss a proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah emerged badly damaged from a war with Israel last year that eliminated much of the group's leadership, killed thousands of its fighters and left tens of thousands of its supporters displaced from their destroyed homes.

The group has been under pressure in recent months both within Lebanon and from Washington to completely relinquish its weapons.

Barrack's proposal, delivered to Lebanese officials during his last visit on June 19, would see Hezbollah fully disarmed within four months in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying several posts in south Lebanon and a halt to Israeli airstrikes.

Lebanon formed a committee to draft a response. Hezbollah was expected to provide its own feedback to Speaker Nabih Berri to incorporate into a counter-proposal being prepared in time for Barrack's Monday visit.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem reiterated Sunday the group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

Hezbollah has already relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army in line with a US-brokered truce that ended last year's war.

The truce also stipulates that Israeli troops withdraw. Hezbollah has pointed to the troops' continued occupation of at least five posts in southern Lebanon as a main violation.

“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem said in a video address on Sunday. “We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization (with Israel).”