He’s dead: Top al-Qaida terrorist leader killed in Syria

He’s dead: Top al-Qaida terrorist leader killed in Syria
January 19, 2018
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/national-security/terrorist-leader-shot-syria.htm?utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=automated&utm_campaign=CNA_20170715&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=automated&utm_campaign=CNA_20170715
He’s dead: Top al-Qaida terrorist leader killed in Syria
Gage Skidmore / CCL
A senior al-Qaida leader was killed on the battlefield on Thursday, according to a report from the Syrian Observatory of Rights Humans.

Mohamed Abbas, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, was reportedly killed during “an artillery fire exchange between Syrian government forces and the Liberation Front of the Levant.”

Al-Qaida is the same terrorist organization that former President Barack Obama repeatedly claimed was “defeated and on the run” after the Benghazi debacle.

Lengthy al-Qaida affiliation
Abbas’s affiliation with al-Qaida reportedly began prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the date of a massive attack on U.S. soil masterminded by then-al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Following his law school studies in his native Egypt, Abbas became a prominent al-Qaida figure in Afghanistan and Pakistan before he was imprisoned in Egypt for 16 years. He rose through the ranks to become a top al-Qaida commander, “religious” leader, trainer, and recruiter.

According to an English language translation of a Reuters Beirut report:

The man, of Egyptian nationality and who fought in the past in the ranks of al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was killed in the Syrian province of Idlib during the battle for control of the Abu Duhur military airport at the hands of the Levant Freedom Agency, according to the NGO.

This jihadist group is formed around the former al-Qaida arm in Syria, which in July 2016 changed its name and disengaged itself from the organization led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Masri [Abbas] had paralysis in his legs after being injured in clashes against the Syrian Air Intelligence corps in the western Aleppo province.

His job within the organization was to train the fighters and new recruits of the Levant Freedom Agency.

“Six years ago he joined the Al Nusra Front, the former name of al-Qaida’s Syrian arm,” according to Reuters, “until he disassociated himself from Syria, where he was on several northern fronts, such as Idlib, Hama and Aleppo.”

ISIS continues to fall
Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has made the elimination of Islamic terrorist organizations one of his top priorities.

Although Trump’s predecessor referred to the Islamic State as a “JV” [junior varsity] team, it controlled approximately 34,000 square miles of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014.

As of November, the Islamic State lost its last stronghold in Iraq.

Americans have good reason to celebrate the progress made against various terrorist organizations from the Middle East.

Under this administration, it looks like the victories will keep coming.