New York: Maher al-Agal, leader of the Islamic State militant group in Syria, was killed on July 12 in a US drone strike, the Pentagon said.
Al-Agal is one of the top five leaders of the militant group. Sources say he was responsible for developing IS networks outside Syria and Iraq. A DW report said al-Agal was killed while riding a motorcycle near Jindayris in Syria, and one of his top aides was seriously injured.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that al-Agal was killed in a drone strike. According to the war monitor, he was a former prominent commander of IS during its control of Raqqa.
The Syrian Civil Defense Force said one person was killed and another injured in a strike that targeted a motorcycle outside Aleppo, but did not identify the victims.
IS militants proclaimed their so-called “caliphate” across vast swaths of both Iraq and Syria in 2014, with the Syrian city of Raqqa as their de-facto capital. At the height of its power, IS controlled more than 100,000 square kilometers of territory and ruled over 8 million people.
Although they were largely defeated in 2019, IS sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks.
