Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group denies it knew of US strike against Islamic State leader al-Qurayshi

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian armed group affiliated with al-Qaeda, has denied it knew the head of Islamic State (IS), who died during a US raid last week, lived in an area under its control.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew himself up on Thursday during the nighttime raid on his house in Syria’s northwest region of Idlib, which is mostly controlled by HTS, an IS rival.

“We were not aware of such an operation before it happened,” HTS said in a statement on Sunday, adding that it was also unaware of “the identity of the residents” of the house that was targeted by US special forces.

“We condemn this [US] operation,” the group added, saying it would continue to “fight against vices and crime”.

Local sources told Middle East Eye that a HTS fighter had been killed by US special forces during the raid and another member wounded.

The men had approached the scene of the attack with their weapons to see what was going on and were attacked by the US special forces who thought they were from IS, they said.

US officials said Qurayshi lived on the third floor of the house it raided above an “unwitting family” that was not associated with IS.

The officials said the IS leader blew himself up, killing members of his own family, during the operation in Idlib’s Atmeh, about 2km from the Turkish border.

Source: Middle East Eye