HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fathi bin Awn bin Jildi Murad al-Tunisi (), also known by the ''
nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...
'' Abu Sayyaf (), was a Tunisian senior leader of the
Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
(IS) who was described as overseeing gas and oil operations. Abu Sayyaf was killed on the night of May 15–16, 2015 while resisting capture during a
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), also known as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as Task Force Green, is a Special operation forces, special operat ...
operation in eastern
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
.Barbara Starr, Laura Smith-Spark & Ray Sanc
Abu Sayyaf, key ISIS figure in Syria, killed in U.S. raid
CNN (May 17, 2015).


Death

The operation was conducted to try to capture him and his wife on suspicion of their involvement in, or "deep knowledge" of Islamic State hostage operations.
Kayla Mueller Kayla Jean Mueller (August 14, 1988 – February 6, 2015) was an American human rights activist and humanitarian aid worker from Prescott, Arizona, United States. She was taken captive in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria, after leaving a Doctors Wi ...
is reported to have been a "personal captive" of Abu Sayyaf. No U.S. soldiers were killed or injured during the operation. It was the first direct action ground raid targeting the militant group by U.S. soldiers inside Syria. (a previous U.S. ground operation in Syria was a rescue mission). Items, including several terabytes of data from laptops, cellphones and other material, were recovered from the scene and exploited for intelligence purposes. More information was collected in the raid than any other in United States special operations forces history. Among the objects found there are archaeological finds, which prove the involvement of IS in illicit antiquities trade. The operation was launched from
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, with the "full consent of Iraqi authorities." A senior administration official said that the administration had assessed it likely that Abu Sayyaf was in direct contact with Islamic State leader and self-proclaimed caliph,
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri (28 July 1971 – 27 October 2019), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was an Iraqi militant leader who was the founder and first leader of the Islamic State (IS), who proclaimed hims ...
. Abu Sayyaf's wife, known by the nom de guerre " Umm Sayyaf" and said to be an IS member, was captured during the operation. A young
Yazidi Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...
woman who appeared to be held as a slave of the couple was freed. A senior administration official told CNN that Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian citizen. Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi researcher on IS and security threats, said that al-Jabouri was "a close associate of chief IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani." On 19 May 2015, United States authorities identified Abu Sayyaf's real name as Fathi Ben Awn Ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi.


Notes


References

{{Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 2015 deaths Assassinated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Tunisian Islamists Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members from Tunisia