ISIS No.2 killed in Iraq drone strike

A drone strike last month killed a senior ISIS leader in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

“My experience in looking at the Islamic State suggests they have demonstrated…an ability to move people up into positions” when high-ranking operatives are killed, said Seth Jones, a former Pentagon official now at the RAND Corporation. “That said, the death of Mutazz removes a key figure from ISIL and further pierces the group’s veneer of invincibility that it has sought to cast”.

Haji Mutazz, the leader of ISIS operations in Iraq and a top military planner for the group, died August 18 when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a airborne explosive device near Mosul.

He also oversaw the Islamic State’s military operations in Iraq, including the June 2014 offensive in which the group overran Mosul and stormed to the outskirts of Baghdad as much of the Iraqi army disintegrated. “He supported ISIL operations in both [Iraq and Syria] and was in charge of ISIL operations in Iraq”.

However, the U.S. Central Command hasn’t issued any statements regarding the death of al-Hayyali yet.

This isn’t the first time that Mutazz’s death has been reported.

“There’s no doubt that ISIL has proven capable of replacing leadership losses”, said a U.S. official, using one of the acronyms by which the group is known.

In December past year, a report attributed to a US official said al-Hayali had been killed in an air strike. One official told CNN that the strike was based upon what is known as “actionable intelligence”, meaning the strike was carried out with the knowledge that the target would be in a particular place at a particular time.