Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has claimed Turkish forces killed the leader of the Islamist militant group Isis during an operation in neighboring Syria.
The Turkish intelligence agency “neutralized” Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi in Syria this weekend, Erdoğan said in televised remarks on Sunday evening. A U.S. official said Monday he was unable to confirm that claim and had no supporting information.
Erdoğan’s announcement comes during the final campaign period in one of the most contested elections in the president’s two decades in office. Security is one of his main campaign platforms and is considered one of the most important issues by voters.
“We will continue our fight against terrorist organizations without any discrimination,” Erdoğan said in a TV special.
Qurayshi had led Isis since October, when his predecessor was killed by Free Syrian Army rebel fighters in Syria’s Deraa province. The former leader was also killed during a American operation in February 2022.
It was unclear what impact his murder would have on Isis operations. From Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, another former leader, was killed in a US raid in 2019, experts say the group lacked charismatic leadership and waned in power. Although they still carry out some small-scale operations, he hasn’t carried out any major attacks recently.
Isis has killed hundreds of people in Turkey over the past decade, including a 2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting that left more than three dozen dead.
Islamist militants took advantage of the chaos of the civil war in Syria and instability in Iraq to take control of huge swathes of both countries in 2014. The group was ousted from these territorial strongholds by an international coalition in 2019.
Qurayshi was reportedly killed in Jinderes, a town in northwestern Syria located in the Euphrates Shield area controlled by Turkish-backed rebel groups.
Dareen Khalifa, senior Syria analyst at Crisis Group, said al-Qurayshi’s presence in the area surrounding Jinderes was plausible. “This is a security-vulnerable area and our research has shown that many mid- to senior-level ISIS commanders use [it] as a hiding place.
The region suffered from a shortage of international aid after the February 6 earthquake that struck large swathes of both countries. Despite a strong Turkish presence, locals still complain of chaos and instability, as dozens of factions compete for resources, their Ankara dollar 50 monthly salaries insufficient to keep tensions at bay.
Rebel fighters told the Financial Times in February that some Islamic State fighters have infiltrated Turkish-held areas since their territorial defeat. Some go unnoticed, under false identities, hidden among groups of internally displaced civilians. Several senior Isis operatives were killed while hiding in areas of the Euphrates Shield.
The US-led coalition and its Syrian Kurdish allies still carry out regular raids against ISIS targets and officials in northeast Syria.
Ankara has launched numerous incursions into northern Syria in recent years against Isis and Kurdish militias which it says are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Partythat Ankara describes as a terrorist organization.
Separately, Erdoğan said on Sunday he was ‘fine’ in response to speculation about his health after his fall sick during a television show then canceled several campaign events. The Turkish government had said he was suffering from stomach flu, but rumors swirled frequently after he suffered abnormal growths of tissue removed from his intestines in 2011.
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