Inside the ‘incredibly complex’ US raid on Isis leader al-Qurayshi in Syria
- US forces rehearsed the helicopter raid over and over, hoping to capture Islamic State state leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi
- But before they could reach him, al-Qurayshi detonated a suicide bomb, killing himself and members of his family
By early December US intelligence was certain: the man occupying the top floor of a nondescript house in Atmeh, northern Syria – who never left the premises, emerging only to bathe on the roof – was the head of the Islamic State group.
US officials say they could have easily killed al-Qurayshi -whose location they had narrowed down last year before pinpointing it – with a precision missile.
Biden chose a riskier course, said a senior US official briefing reporters Thursday, to reduce the possibility of killing the civilians also living in the three-level cinderblock home, set amid olive trees near the Turkish border.
The Special Operations Forces assault launched early Thursday was “incredibly complex”, the official said, given several nearby homes and the presence of women and multiple children in the building.
In the end, as elite US troops surrounded the house calling for all inside to come out, al-Qurayshi blew himself up along with his wife and two children – an outcome the Americans had prepared for but hoped against.