Syrian army says senior IS militant killed
BEIRUT: The Syrian army said on Wednesday it had killed IS’s military commander in Syria during operations in the north of the country, where the Russian-backed government forces are seizing more territory back from the fighter group.
If confirmed, this would represent a major blow against IS ahead of an attack which the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters — are expected to launch against the fighters in their stronghold of Raqqa city.
A Syrian military source said the IS commander, Abu Musab al Masri, had been the group’s “minister of war” for Syria.
Syrian state media had earlier cited a military source as saying he was the organisation’s “minister of war”, suggesting he was the overall IS military commander.
He was named among 13 senior IS figures killed in Syrian army operations east of Aleppo, including men identified as Saudi and Iraqi nationals, according to the source cited by state media.
Al Masri was killed in the operations that got underway on May 10. The military source did not say where he was killed.
Baghdad-based IS expert Hisham al Hashimi said the death of Masri, if confirmed, would be a “significant blow to the group ahead of the battle of Raqqa”.
He said Al Masri was also fourth most senior figure in organisation. — AFP military the the