ISIS announced Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as his replacement on Thursday, according to AlArabia News, after confirming the death of its leader Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.
In April, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish intelligence forces had killed Syria’s militant group’s leader, al-Qurashi.
Qurashi was introduced as a replacement after the death of its leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al Qurayshi.
He took over in March after his predecessor detonated himself during a US military operation in northwest Syria.
He described Abu al-Hussein as “one of the veteran mujahidin” and exhorted the organisation’s adherents to swear allegiance to him.
IS once brutally ruled over around eight million people in an area spanning 88,000 square kilometres (34,000 square miles), from eastern Iraq to western Syria.
The group was expelled from its final area of control in 2019, but the UN warned in July that it posed a continuing threat.
Between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters, most of whom are based in rural regions and still engage in hit-and-run operations, ambushes, and roadside bombings, are considered present in Syria and Iraq, BBC reported.
Regional IS affiliates are a concern in different crisis areas throughout the globe. According to the UN, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Lake Chad basin networks are the most active and well-established.
