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Iraq announced Friday that Omar Abdulqadir Bassam, also known as Abdurrahman al-Halabi, a senior Daesh official responsible for operations and external security, was killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in Syria.
The Iraqi counterterrorism unit said Bassam, a key figure in the group, was neutralized during the operation, which followed months of intelligence tracking. Officials noted that the strike was coordinated with Iraqi judicial authorities.
Bassam reportedly oversaw Daesh’s so-called “Distant Provinces” operations and was directly involved in the November 2013 double suicide attack on Iran’s embassy in Beirut, which killed 23 people and injured 160.
Iraqi authorities said he also planned several attacks in Europe and the United States, all of which were prevented through sensitive intelligence work.
Officials described Bassam’s elimination as a major strategic loss for Daesh. It follows a series of successful operations over the past two months that have removed more than six senior Daesh leaders.
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