The death of the ISIL leader, Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, who was killed by Turkey in April, has been confirmed by the group.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) has announced Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as his successor.
The group revealed on Thursday that their leader was eliminated during direct clashes with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham faction in Idlib province, located in the rebel-held northwestern region of Syria.
The announcement was delivered by an ISIL spokesperson through a recorded message on the Telegram messaging app, though the exact date of his demise was not provided.
In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that Turkish intelligence had successfully targeted the leader in Syria.
After a swift ascent in 2014, during which it captured extensive territories in Iraq and Syria, ISIL faced a series of military campaigns that led to the collapse of its self-proclaimed “caliphate.”
The group’s rule was characterized by acts of brutality such as beheadings and mass shootings.
Its hold on Iraq was defeated in 2017 and in Syria two years later, although sleeper cells continue to carry out assaults in both countries.
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has become the fifth leader of the organization since its inception.
In November of the previous year, ISIL announced the death of its former leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
His predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, was killed in a United States raid in Idlib province in February of the prior year.
The group’s initial leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was also eliminated in Idlib in October 2019.