(New York, N.Y.) — Thursday morning, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi was killed during a raid by U.S. Special Operations forces in northwest Syria. Al-Quraishi was reportedly killed when he detonated a bomb, also killing members of his own family, including women and children. At least 13 individuals were killed during the raid.

“ISIS has lost its leader for the second time. This is of course a major setback for the group. While important, however, the international community should guard against the risk of a false sense of the strategic impact,” said Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, formerly the Coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh), al-Qaeda, and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team.

To read CEP’s resource Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi, please click here.

“Despite the loss of al-Quraishi, things are actually looking up for ISIS. The group was able to counter al-Qaeda pressure in West Africa, integrate most of Boko Haram, establish a new affiliate in Central Africa, and increase activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. We are still very much in the middle of the fight.”

To read CEP’s resource ISIS, please click here.

Al-Quraishi, also known as Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, was the U.S.-designated leader and one of the founding members of ISIS. He was appointed as the successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on October 31, 2019, following the death of the former caliph in a U.S. raid on October 26, 2019. Al-Quraishi was a former officer in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s army and was considered one of the most prominent ISIS members in Baghdadi’s circle.

To read CEP’s resource Syria, please click here.