ISIL leader killed in Syria

January 6, 2017
Release # 20170106-02
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA — A Syrian-based ISIL leader and facilitator, was struck and killed by a Coalition precision airstrike Dec. 31, 2016, in Raqqah, Syria.

Mahmud al-Isawi, was a long-standing ISIL member who supported the organization's media and intelligence structure in Fallujah before relocating to Raqqah. He controlled the flow of instructions and finances between ISIL-held areas and ISIL leaders, and provided support to propaganda and intelligence outlets.

Al-Isawi was also known to have facilitated trans-regional travel with other ISIL external operations coordinators and had a close working and personal relationship with Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi, the emir of ISIL's Middle East attack network, who was killed in a coalition airstrike, Nov. 2, 2016.

Al-Isawi was the 16th significant member of ISIL's external operations network to be killed by Coalition forces in 2016. His death, combined with the recent successive deaths of other ISIL leaders plotting terrorist attacks, has degraded ISIL's trans-regional attack and facilitation network, and is forcing ISIL to increase their focus on internal security. The Coalition will continue to track and eliminate ISIL terrorists who plot and conduct attacks against Coalition nations and our allies, wherever they are hiding.