ISIS Leader Killed in Joint Iraqi and U.S. Operation

One of the most senior leaders of the Islamic State group has been killed in western Iraq in an operation by Iraq's national intelligence service and U.S.-led coalition forces, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced on Friday, March 14. The Associated Press reported that al-Sudani identified the man as Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, known as "Abu Khadija," and described him as the group's "deputy caliph" and "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world."

How the operation unfolded

A security official told the AP that the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, a vast desert region in western Iraq. A second official said the strike took place on Thursday night and that al-Rifai's death was confirmed on Friday. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces conducted a "precision airstrike" in Anbar that killed al-Rifai along with another Islamic State operative, the BBC reported. According to CENTCOM, both men were wearing unexploded suicide vests and carrying multiple weapons. The command said U.S. and Iraqi forces confirmed al-Rifai's identity through a DNA match with a sample collected during an earlier raid from which he had narrowly escaped.

In a statement on X, al-Sudani said, "The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism." President Donald Trump, writing on Truth Social, said al-Rifai had been killed "in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government," according to the BBC.

Who was Abu Khadija?

CENTCOM described al-Rifai as the head of the Islamic State's most senior decision-making body, responsible for operations, logistics and planning carried out by the group around the world. The command also said he directed a large share of the funding for the group's global organization. CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla called him one of the most important members of the entire global organization, the BBC reported. His name has been transliterated in several ways, including Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai.

At its peak, the Islamic State controlled about 88,000 square kilometers (34,000 square miles) of territory across Syria and Iraq and ruled close to eight million people, according to the BBC. Iraq declared the group militarily defeated in December 2017, and it lost its last territory in Syria in 2019. Its fighters and sleeper cells nevertheless continue to carry out sporadic attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police.

Regional backdrop

The announcement came on the same day that Syria's interim foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, made his first visit to Iraq, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told reporters that the two sides had discussed "in detail" the movements of Islamic State fighters on the Syrian-Iraqi border and inside both countries, the AP reported. Al-Shaibani said Syria was ready to strengthen cooperation against the group along the length of the shared border, Al Jazeera reported, citing Iraq's state news agency. Iraq closed the frontier on security grounds after Assad was toppled.

The strike also comes as the U.S.-led coalition prepares to wind down its presence. Under a joint U.S.-Iraqi statement issued in September 2024, the coalition's military mission in Iraq is to end no later than the end of September 2025, while coalition operations supporting the fight in Syria from a platform in Iraq may continue until September 2026. The statement said the transition to bilateral security partnerships should be handled in a way that maintains pressure on the group.

Update (September 30, 2026): The last U.S. and British troops left the coalition base in Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, bringing the anti-Islamic State mission known as Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq to an end, the BBC reported. U.S. Central Command said the coalition's joint task force remains operational from Jordan.