Yeah, not Caliph, another senior Iraqi emir. Though it's still important since it showcases how strong is Iraqi IS's grip on the Syrian one, amid uncertainty if Syria wilayat wasn't compromised by the US. https://t.co/mpJ5VXlysh
— Paweł Wójcik 🦋 (@SaladinAlDronni) August 20, 2025
US-led coalition forces killed a senior Iraqi Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) leader on Wednesday during an airdrop raid in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province, state media said.
"International coalition forces executed an airdrop operation targeting a house in the town of Atmeh in northern Idlib countryside, resulting in the death of the house's tenant, who was one of the ISIS organization's leaders," state television
al-Ikhbariya said, citing an unnamed source.
It identified the target as Salah Numan, an Iraqi ISIS leader responsible for "coordinating and organizing a number of cells affiliated with the organization inside Syrian territory."
Three witnesses told AFP the raid took place around midnight, reporting they heard aircraft and gunfire. Numan tried to escape by jumping from a balcony but was killed as coalition forces opened fire.
The state TV source said Numan’s wives, who were hiding with him, were interrogated, and electronic devices were seized. The building was owned by Mustafa al-Sheikh. His son, Ahmed Mustafa al-Sheikh, along with Muhannad and Mohammed al-Sheikh, were also questioned after being "forced to remove their clothes," according to the source.
An Iraqi security source told AFP that Numan was the brother of a senior ISIS commander killed in a 2020 coalition strike in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province. Iraqi intelligence helped guide Wednesday’s operation, the source added.
The US-led coalition has carried out numerous raids in Idlib against ISIS operatives. ISIS emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in Atmeh in 2022 in an operation also conducted with Iraqi intelligence support.
Despite ISIS’ military defeat in 2019, it continues to pose security risks, particularly in the vast eastern desert.
Last month, a Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesperson told Rudaw that an estimated 2,000 ISIS Lions of Islam remain active in the Syrian desert.
An earlier report in Israel National News, courtesy of Skidmark in comments yesterday, postulated the target was more senior:
Sources in Syria report that in the early morning the US-led international coalition forces carried out a commando operation in the village of Āţimah in the Idlib province, in northwest Syria near the Turkish border.During the raid, a senior ISIS commander was arrested, and French women who were with him were also taken into custody.
According to reports, the raiding forces were flown in by at least four helicopters, in coordination with Syria's Internal Security Forces. At the same time, Syrian forces blocked the roads leading to the area.
Syrian media noted that the detainee may be ISIS leader Abu Hafs al-Qurashi. Gunfire was heard during the operation, but no casualties were reported - neither fatalities nor injuries.
| Update at 2:20 a.m. EDT: The Times of Israel has a report from Ay Pee, which adds: |
The Observatory, an anti-Assad organization of uncertain funding, said the man captured had a French-speaking woman with him, and it was not immediately clear if she was taken by the US force or by Syrian security forces who later cordoned the area.
Two years ago, ISIS announced that a man called Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi was named as its new leader after Turkish authorities killed his predecessor.
Syrian state TV on Wednesday quoted an unnamed security official as saying the Iraqi man targeted in the operation is known as Ali, adding that his real name is Salah Noman. It said Noman was living in an apartment with his wife, son and mother. It said he was killed in the raid.