Syrian army says Islamic State’s ‘minister of war’ killed
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand in the town of Tabqa, after capturing it from Islamic State militants this week, Syria May 12, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said
(Reuters) The Syrian army said on Wednesday it had killed Islamic State’s “minister of war” among other senior figures in the group in operations east of the northern city of Aleppo.
A Syrian military source cited by Syrian state media identified the war minister as Abu Musab al-Masri, without saying exactly when or where he was killed.
He was named among 13 senior Islamic State figures killed in Syrian army operations east of Aleppo, including men identified as Saudi and Iraqi nationals.
A previous Islamic State minister of war, Abu Omar al-Shishani, was killed last year. The Pentagon said Shishani was likely to have been killed in a U.S. air strike in Syria. The militant group confirmed his death in July but said he had died fighting in the Iraqi city of Shirqat south of Mosul.
Islamic State faces separate campaigns in northern Syria by the Russian-backed Syrian army, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, and Turkey-backed rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner.