US military releases video of airstrike that killed ISIS second-in-command

(CNN) — US forces working with Iraqi intelligence and security services killed a high-profile leader of the Islamic State in an airstrike in western Iraq, according to officials from the two countries.

Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah,’ was known as the “deputy caliph” of the militant group and “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X.

President Donald Trump posted on social media Friday night, saying “the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”

The “Global ISIS #2 leader, Chief of Global Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir” was killed alongside another ISIS operative in a precision strike on Thursday in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The US and Iraqi troops found the two ISIS members dead at the site of the strike. Both were “wearing un-exploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” according to the CENTCOM statement.

They identified Abu Khadijah “through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where Abu Khadijah narrowly escaped,” the statement said.

As an ISIS leader in Iraq and Syria, Abu Khadijah was responsible “for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by ISIS globally,” CENTCOM said. He also directed a significant portion of finance for the group’s global organization.

In his statement on X, Iraq’s PM al-Sudani said that “the Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism.”

Before a series of defeats by a US-led coalition nearly six years ago, ISIS – also known as the “caliphate” – held sway over much of Syria and northern Iraq while spawning affiliates throughout Africa and Asia.

It organized a series of deadly terror attacks in European cities and remains active as a terror group in more than a dozen countries, inspiring and supporting individuals and cells in Europe and Russia in recent years.

Even if it is now a loosely linked network rather than a self-declared caliphate controlling sizeable cities, ISIS is far from moribund.

The most high-profile attack claimed by ISIS in 2024 was the devastating assault on a Moscow shopping mall in March, which left at least 150 dead and more than 500 injured.

US officials are concerned that instability following the collapse of the iron-fisted regime of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad may allow ISIS to expand from its remote desert strongholds, and also regain a foothold in Iraq.

The Iraqi leader al-Sudani was the first to announce the killing of the operatives, in a statement that came during the first visit by Syria’s top diplomat to Iraq since the fall of Assad.

The two countries pledged to work together to combat terrorism, al-Sudani’s office said in a statement, adding that Iraq’s commitment to Syria’s security and stability will have a “direct impact on regional stability.”

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