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Coalition forces continue to ‘degrade Islamic State combat ability’ say officials

August 7, 2017

Coalition airstrikes continue to target and kill Islamic State leaders and fighters, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said today.

Most recently, officials said in a statement, the coalition targeted and killed IS leaders involved in directing external operations as well as in bomb-making activities directed at regional and Western targets.

Coalition forces killed Abd al-Ghafur, a Syria-based IS external operations official, and one associate in an airstrike July 24 near Albu Kamal, Syria. His assistant, Abu Hammam, and three other ISIS members were killed by a coalition airstrike near Dayr Az Zawr, Syria.

The coalition also targeted ISIS foreign fighters from southeast Europe operating in Syria as ISIS recruiters, facilitators and attack plotters, responsible for multiple atrocities in Syria.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri was killed by a coalition airstrike June 7 near Mayadin, Syria. Muhaxheri was an ethnic Albanian from Kacanc, Kosovo, and a self-proclaimed leader of IS foreign fighters from Kosovo.

Four senior associates of Muhaxheri also are confirmed dead, the statement said.

Jetmir Ismaili, an external terror attack planner, was killed by a coalition airstrike in Raqqah, Syria, in late June. Ismaili had key connections with ISIS external terror attack planners in Europe and Syria, and personally planned and coordinated external IS terror attacks.

Razim Kastrati, an IS external terror attack coordinator, was killed along with five other ISIS fighters by a June 16 coalition airstrike near Mayadin, Syria. Kastrati moved and trained foreign fighters from southeast Europe to Syria and was involved in plotting external attacks.

Irfan Hafiqi, a fellow ethnic Albanian and deputy to Muhaxheri, was killed by a June 7 coalition airstrike near Qayira, Syria. Haqifi was involved in plotting terror attacks abroad, and was responsible for recruiting ISIS fighters from Southeast Europe and facilitating their movements to Syria, officials said.

Orhan Ramadani was killed by a coalition airstrike May 21 near Mayadin, Syria. He was responsible for actively planning external terror attacks from Syria.

A press release stated:

“ISIS poses a global threat because of its commitment to plot, direct and incite terror attacks, and its ability to recruit, move, and finance the terrorists who commit those attacks, the task force’s statement said, adding that the coalition will continue to target and kill ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria until ISIS is removed from the region and no longer pose a threat to national homelands around the world.”