AMMAN (Dispatches) – The Daesh terrorist group has appointed a previously unknown figure as its head after its leader blew himself up in October while being besieged by former militants in southern Syria, those involved in the clash told Reuters.
Daesh selected Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi as its new leader, a spokesman for the group said in a recording. He did not offer further details on the new leader.
It was both the first time Daesh’s top leader was killed in southern Syria in Deraa, rather than the north.
Deraa returned to Syrian army control in 2018 following Russian-brokered reconciliation deals that saw militant hand over heavy weapons and be incorporated into pro-government units.
Quraishi and his aides had been discovered hiding out in a house in the town of Jasem, according to former militants involved in the clash, relatives of others who died in the fighting, and residents.
“The leader and a companion blew themselves up with suicide belts after our fighters succeeded in storming their hideout,” said Salem al Horani, a resident and former militant who helped besiege the three houses where the Daesh cell was discovered.
Local sources said Quraishi was among dozens of Daesh militants who came to southern Syria earlier this year from other hideouts in the sparsely populated Syrian desert, where they had taken shelter after losing their last enclave in Syria in 2019.
The southern province had become a flashpoint of fighting in recent months as Daesh terrorists waged hit-and-run attacks against the Syrian army and their allies in the desert areas at an increasing pace, according to Western intelligence sources.