Coalition airstrike kills ISIS leader in Raqqa

A coalition airstrike in Syria just before the end of the year killed an ISIS leader who worked in the group’s media and intelligence operations, the U.S.-led coalition announced Friday.

The statement identified the leader as Mahmud al-Isawi and said the strike happened Dec. 31 in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s de facto capital of Raqqa.

“Al-Isawi was the 16th significant member of ISIL’s external operations network to be killed by coalition forces in 2016,” the statement said, using an alternate acronym for ISIS. “His death, combined with the recent successive deaths of other ISIL leaders plotting terrorist attacks, has degraded ISIL’s trans-regional attack and facilitation network, and is forcing ISIL to increase their focus on internal security.”

The statement described al-Isawi as a long-standing ISIS member who supported its media and intelligence structure in Fallujah, Iraq, before relocating to Raqqa. Fellujah was retaken by Iraqi forces in June.

Al-Isawi controlled the flow of instructions and finances between ISIS-held areas and ISIS leaders, and provided support to propaganda and intelligence outlets, the statement added. He also facilitated trans-regional travel with other ISIS external operations coordinators

Al-Isawi also had a close working and personal relationship with Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi, the emir of ISIS’s Middle East attack network, who was killed in a coalition airstrike Nov. 2, according to the statement.

“The coalition will continue to track and eliminate ISIL terrorists who plot and conduct attacks against coalition nations and our allies, wherever they are hiding,” the statement said.