President Trump on Friday announced that ISIS’s second in command was killed in Iraq this week, touting it as an example of his administration’s “peace through strength” military philosophy.
“He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters,” the president wrote on Truth Social Friday evening. “His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
U.S. Central Command confirmed the March 13 operation on Friday. According to officials, U.S. forces in coordination with Iraqi forces conducted a precision airstrike in the Al Anbar province and killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as “Abu Khadijah.”
“Abu Khadijah was one of the most important ISIS members in the entire global ISIS organization,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, in a statement. “We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond.”
One other ISIS operative was killed in the strike, per U.S. officials.
The strike was initially announced by Iraqi officials earlier on Friday.
“The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on the social platform X.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also praised the strike on Friday.
“Well done,” he wrote on X.
U.S. officials stated that it found Khadijah and the other ISIS operative dead, wearing “suicide vests,” and identified the former via DNA testing.
This is the second strike that has targeted ISIS officials since Trump returned to the White House.
In early February, the president ordered a precision strike in Somalia that U.S. officials say killed a senior ISIS “planner.”
