Thread: Most salient information from the White House and Pentagon briefings on yesterday's US raid that killed Islamic State leader Hajji Abdullah (Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi) in #Idlib.
The operation was in the works for months.
US confirmed by early December that the IS leader was living in the compound; the exact layout of the compound; and exactly who was where.
The reason a raid was chosen vs. an airstrike was an innocent family on the first floor.
So good was the US intelligence that they knew that Hajji Abdullah detonating his suicide vest on the third floor would not bring down the building, hence the decision to risk the operation despite knowing he would do this.
Pentagon: As soon as the US surrounded the building and started calling for the women and children to come out, Hajji Abdullah detonated the bomb, basically right as the operation began.
Pentagon:
▶️Hajji Abdullah killed his wife and 2 children on 3rd floor
▶️US safely evacuated innocent family on 1st floor (6 people)
▶️Hajji Abdullah's deputy & wife on 2nd floor opened fire on US forces and were killed with 1 child; 4 of their children then safely evacuated
US won't identify Hajji Abdullah's lieutenant living on the second floor, but he ran the courier network Hajji Abdullah used to run the global Islamic State – basically Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed – so clearly someone very senior.
Pentagon:
▶️Hajji Abdullah identified by fingerprints/DNA
▶️The battle, including helicopters, was actually towards the end of the op, when a group of hostiles approached the area. 2 killed, the rest fled.
▶️DOD won't specify if capture was ever in the cards
Pentagon: "From soup to nuts, the original plan was to have them there for 2 hours", primarily to save the civilians.
▶️2 hours necessary for civilian evac effort, operation, gathering intelligence material in the house, identify the bodies, and safely evac
Pentagon:
▶️Hajji Abdullah's body was left at the site
▶️The SOF unit conducted DOZENS of rehearsals of the operation over the last few months
Pentagon:
▶️One of the helicopters suffered a drive train issue immediately upon infil, was flown to an alternative location, and ultimately blown up by the US after they decided it couldn't be salvaged.
Pentagon says it doesn't have perfect knowledge of everyone killed in the raid and will see if US directly caused any civilian casualties
▶️"At least" 1 child killed on 2nd floor where Hajji Abdullah's deputy + wife opened fire on US forces (4 other kids saved after the battle)
The US is adamant that all civilian casualties were caused by Hajji Abdullah & deputy:
"Some of the numbers out there don’t align with our information, but I can’t say specifically how many people Hajji Abdullah had with him when he decided to murder them."
Senior administration official on the role of the SDF/PKK:
"The SDF is essential. We cannot do any of this without them. So, just critical. I don’t want to get into any details, but critical, vital enablers for operations like this."
DOD can't confirm if it was a suicide vest and/or other explosive (given standard IS operating procedure, it was a suicide vest, though other areas of the house may also have been booby-trapped 🤷♂️)
Pentagon: "We cannot say at this time exactly what this device was."
CENTCOM's Gen. McKenzie says the explosion "was more massive than would be expected from a suicide vest".
US officials add Hajji Abdullah killed TWO of his wives (at least): reuters.com/world/middle-e…
Pentagon says the battle after the operation was with HaD.
Incidentally, HaD also attacked US forces during the Baghdadi raid.
CENTCOM's Gen. McKenzie says it was a capture mission, not a kill mission.
Oh well.
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