Reed also lauded the military personnel who participated in the high-stakes operation.
“I commend our U.S. service members for going to extraordinary lengths to protect innocent bystanders and prevent civilian casualties,” Reed said. “As President Biden publicly stated, al-Qurayshi took the cowardly way out and killed himself and several children.”
The senator added that the nation’s vital counterterrorism work continues.
“We must continue our coordinated effort to defeat ISIS and deny them financing, recruiting tools, and safe haven,” Reed said. “Terrorist groups remain a deadly threat around the globe. Even as we focus on strategic competition with near-peer rivals, we must continue to hone our counterterrorism approach with allies and partners. The Armed Services Committee, for its part, will maintain rigorous oversight of these and other combat operations.”
Congressman Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat and former White House national security adviser in the Obama administration, tweeted Thursday that al-Qurayshi had previously masterminded a genocide.
Last night our military killed ISIS global leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. You may not know this name, I first learned it in 2014 working at the White House. This man masterminded the genocide against the Yazidi people on Sinjar Mountain.THREAD https://t.co/FjhblyYCuG
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) February 3, 2022
Kim wrote that al-Qurayshi “gave orders to massacre the Yazidi people because of their faith. I’ll never forget waiting outside the Oval Office late in the evening on August 6, 2014, upwards of 50,000 Yazidis sat trapped atop Sinjar Mountain.”
While many Yazidis escaped with US assistance, Kim continued, al-Qurayshi “still captured and killed thousands and ushered in brutal violence that boosted his reputation within ISIS.”
Kim added that ISIS is currently in a diminished state but is still active.
“While ISIS threat is lower than its heights in 2014/2015, they have still caused tremendous havoc and devastation and still pose a threat to this day,” Kim tweeted. “Justice can never be brought to the Yazidis and others who suffered at the hands of Al-Qurayshi.”
He urged the public to remember the Yazidi victims.
“Nothing can ever balance the brutality of genocide,” Kim tweeted. “While we work to stop Al-Qurayshi and others from killing, we must recommit to helping those who survive. While we read news of Al-Qurayshi’s demise today, let us focus on remembering those lost to the senseless violence.”
Juliette Kayyem, a former Homeland Security official who now teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School, tweeted that the operation to take out Al-Qurayshi was a “successful targeted kill.”
“Analysts will talk about the difference between tactics and strategy,” Kayyem tweeted. “Sure. But a destabilized terror group is a vulnerable terror group. That’s the strategy.”
Theres a weird “whatev” analysis in response to any successful targeted kill, as if someone else will easily step in. Analysts will talk about the difference between tactics and strategy. Sure. But a destabilized terror group is a vulnerable terror group. That’s the strategy. https://t.co/f2UEnlHDJZ
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) February 3, 2022
Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer, tweeted that Americans should be thankful that an ISIS leader’s been “stopped.”
We owe a debt of gratitude to President Biden, the U.S. military, and American intelligence officers who, along with our foreign allies, located and stopped ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/skXdEus8w0
— Evan McMullin 🇺🇸 (@EvanMcMullin) February 3, 2022
The raid targeted al-Qurayshi, who took over as head of the militant group on Oct. 31, 2019, just days after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. raid in the same area. Biden said al-Qurayshi died as al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as U.S. forces approached.
Aaron Y. Zelin, a visiting scholar at Brandeis University and the author of “Your Sons Are At Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad,” wrote on the site of the Washington Institute, a think tank focused on the Middle East, that the area where al-Qurayshi was killed is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which split from ISIS in 2013.
“Going forward, it would be useful for the U.S. government to clarify its relations (or lack thereof) with HTS and state whether it views the group as a counterterrorism partner—however tarnished HTS might be as a former IS and AQ affiliate that is known to have committed human rights abuses during the Syria war,” Zelin wrote for the institute. “And if the group had nothing to do with the raid against Quraishi, then major questions will arise about how competent its security services really are given that two successive IS leaders have been based in its territory.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
