ISIS Announces Leader’s Death, Names Next-In-Line

The Islamic State confirmed the death of its leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi on Thursday, specifying that he was killed in clashes northwestern Syria. Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi was named as his successor, according to an undated recording shared on the Telegram app.
The Sheikh (Quraishi) was killed after they (Syria’s HTS) tried to take him captive. He fought with them till he died of his wounds, the spokesperson asserted, charging the rival Islamist organization of serving as Turkish intelligence agents.
This is the first ISIS announcement about their leader’s fate since Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan reported in April that Turkish forces had killed him in Syria.
The ISIS organization peaked in 2014, when its then-leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the territory under his control a state of caliphate. In 2019, al- Baghdadi was murdered during a U.S. military operation in Syria.
After his predecessor was killed in Syria, Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi took office in November 2022.