Thread by @jseldin

NEW: Dead #ISIS leader was taking "extreme measures" for security prior to his death

Just released @UN report says one intel agency concluded Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-#Mawla (aka Au Ibrahim al-Hashimi al #Qurashi) banned electronics from being carried in his vicinity

.@UN report also says the now dead #ISIS leader was "believed to move regularly between #Iraq & the #Syria|n Arab Republic"

US officials said they had tracked al-#Mawla to his hideout in #Idlib, that he never left & that op had been planned for months

Per @UN intel report, compiled prior to the #ISIS leader's death, "The #Idlib de-escalation zone remains important for [#ISIS] as a strategic location providing limited safe haven; some ISIL activity is noted near the Turkish border"

The @UN report also warns #ISIS is "an entrenched rural insurgency" in #Syria #Iraq "exploiting the porous border between the two countries, while maintaining operations in areas of low security pressure"

Report estimates #ISIS has 6,000-10,000 fighters in #Iraq #Syria - lower than latest US estimates of 8,000-16,000

#ISIS "operational leaders remain mainly in the #Syria|n Arab Republic, while some of its administrative leaders, who provide mostly financial & logistical support, are present in neighbouring countries" per @UN report

In #Iraq, #ISIS "cells remain active in desert & rural territories" per new @UN report "The group maintains the ability to launch deadly attacks, leveraging urban areas to grow its clandestine networks"

#ISIS cells in #Iraq also "focus on economic warfare, targeting infrastructure, in particular power lines" w/a steady rate of such attacks in #Kirkuk, #Diyala and Salah al-Din governorates, per @UN

#ISIS leadership challenges - @UN report notes string of losses:

- capture finance chief Sami Jasim Muhammad Al-Jaburi in Iraq in October
- 3 other key leaders killed in 2020-2021

"Some Member States assess that the group is significantly undermined by these losses..."