BEIRUT // A drone strike near Raqqa killed an ISIL commander who was heading to Aleppo province on orders from the organisation’s chief, a monitoring group said Thursday.
His death is the latest in a series of blows to the group in recent weeks, and comes days after Russian-backed Syrian government forces recaptured Palmyra from its grip.
Abu Al Hija, a high-ranking Tunisian ISIL commander, was killed late on Wednesday in a strike by a drone that was “most likely operated by the US-led coalition”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
He had travelled to Syria from Iraq just 24 hours earlier at the behest of ISIL chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the Britain-based monitoring group said. Al Hija is the latest senior IS member to be killed in recent weeks.
Last week, US forces killed ISIL’s deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa Al Qaduli. Earlier this month one of the group’s most notorious commanders, Omar Al Shishani, also died.
“ISIL’s leadership is being debilitated,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. “Without [the] infiltration of ISIL, these killings would not have been possible.”
The latest killing came after Syrian government troops backed by Russian forces seized Palmyra on Sunday.
While Russia and the US back opposing sides in the conflict between the Syrian government and rebels, both are intent on crushing the group.
“It is clear that Russia and the United States are coordinating in the fight against ISIL,” Mr Abdel Rahman said.
Al Hija had been ordered by Baghdadi to travel from Iraq to Aleppo province, to oversee ISIL resistance to an offensive by US-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“The fighting, which has been especially fierce in the past four or five days, could lead to ISIL being expelled from the area and pushed eastward into Raqqa province,” Mr Abdel Rahman said.
A top Pentagon official said earlier this week that ISIL was losing the fight against the US-led coalition in both Syria and Iraq, even as it continues to mount attacks overseas.
* Agence France-Presse
