Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 4 9 tweets 8 min read
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..."

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More from @jseldin

Feb 7
NEW: Latest US intel warning abt possible #Russia military invasion of #Ukraine - "We take all these signs very seriously" #Latvia DefMin @Pabriks tells @gmfus
"It's not only about #Ukraine" per #Latvia DefMin @Pabriks "[Putin] wants not only to subjugate #Ukraine"
#Latvia's @Pabriks says it appears #Russia's #Putin was gambling that by applying pressure on #Ukraine that West would fold already

"I think the decision is not made yet" on invasion BUT "Putin is putting himself & Russia in the corner" he says, warning "He needs to act"
Read 17 tweets
Feb 4
NEW: Growing concerns abt #ISIS-#Khorasan

Just releases @UN intel report finds ISIS' affiliate in #Afghanistan may have doubled in size since US left & now has close to 4,000 fighters

In August, @CENTCOM said there were at least 2,000 hardcore ISIS-K
Per @UN report, up to half of #ISIS-#Khorasan could be #foreignfighters

ISIS-K also now "controls limited territory in eastern #Afghanistan...capable of conducting high-profile & complex attacks"
#ISIS-#Khorasan also getting money from ISIS core, per @UN member state intel - possibly in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars

"The ISIL core is assessed to have allocated in excess of $500,000 for the support of ISIL-K"
Read 4 tweets
Feb 4
Happening NOW: @CENTCOM Cmdr Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie briefs on the investigation into the August 26, 2021 #ISIS-#Khorasan bombing at Abbey Gate, Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 US servicemembers & at least 170 Afghans Image
"The investigation found that a single, explosive device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians & 13 U.S. servicemembers by explosively directing ball bearings through a packed crowd and into our men & women at Abbey gate" per @CENTCOM's McKenzie
"The investigation found no definitive proof that anyone was ever hit or killed by gunfire, either U.S. or Afghan" per @CENTCOM's McKenzie, citing more than 100 sworn witnesses
Read 17 tweets
Feb 3
Happening now: @POTUS talks about operation that led to the death of #ISIS leader Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, aka Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi and as Hajji ‘Abdallah

Says al-Malwa "responsible for the recent brutal attack on a prison in northeast #Syria"
.@POTUS says #ISIS leader al-Malwa "chose to blow himself up...in a final act of cowardice...just like his predecessor did"
.@POTUS says operation was aided by #SDF and US intel
Read 13 tweets
Feb 3
BREAKING: US KILLS #ISIS LEADER Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi - PER @POTUS
BREAKING: "Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi—the leader of #ISIS" per @POTUS statement
MORE: "Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place" per @POTUS "All Americans have returned safely from the operation"
Read 4 tweets
Feb 3
BREAKING: Pentagon confirms major US counter-terror op

“US Special Operations forces under the control of US Central Command conducted a counterterrorism mission this evening in northwest #Syria. The mission was successful" per @PentagonPresSec
MORE: "There were no US casualties" per @PentagonPresSec "More information will be provided as it becomes available”
Worth noting: @CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Kenneth McKenzie had been scheduled to speak Thursday morning US ET at @MiddleEastInst BUT the event was canceled late Thursday
Read 12 tweets

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