Daesh spokesman, Iran ex-general killed in Syria clashes

An image grab taken on October 2, 2013 from a video uploaded on YouTube shows Daesh spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani al-Shami speaking next to an Islamist flag at an undisclosed location. (AFP / YOUTUBE / HO)

BEIRUT/TEHRAN: A key Daesh leader and a retired Iranian general had been killed in fighting in Syria, the group and Iranian media said on Wednesday.
A report posted online by the Daesh-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Muhammed Al-Adnani, the Daesh group’s spokesman and chief strategist, was “martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo.”
The terrorist group, which is also called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), vowed to avenge his death. It did not provide any further details on when or how he died.
Al-Adnani had been credited for laying out the blueprint for the extremist group’s attacks against the West.
If confirmed, it would be a major blow to the extremist group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq, where the borders of its self-declared Islamic caliphate have been steadily eroded in recent months.
Al-Adnani, whose real name is Taha Sobhi Falaha, persistently called for attacks against the West, which paid off in bloody notoriety with the Nov. 13 coordinated attacks in Paris that hit a concert hall, a stadium and restaurants and bars, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.
Al-Adnani is a Syrian who was born in the northern province of Idlib and is believed to be in his late 30s. He crossed the border and joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor to Daesh (Arabic acronym for ISIL), after the 2003 US-led invasion.
In late June 2014, he formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and demanded allegiance from Muslims worldwide.
A powerful orator, he went on to become the voice of Daesh. He released numerous, lengthy audio files online in which he delivered fiery sermons urging followers to kill civilians in nations that supported the US-led coalition against the group.
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” Al-Adnani said in 2014.
In other speeches he referred to US President Barack Obama as “an idiot” and Secretary of State John Kerry as an “uncircumcized old geezer.”
Earlier this year, he called for massive attacks during Ramadan — a call that translated into the bloodiest Muslim holy month in recent memory. Followers of Daesh carried out attacks on several continents, including the Orlando shooting, the Nice truck attack in France and a massive suicide bombing in downtown Baghdad.
In Washington, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed that a US airstrike on Tuesday targeted Al-Adnani in the Syrian city of Al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo.
“We are still assessing the results of the strike, but Al-Adnani’s removal from the battlefield would mark another significant blow to (the Daesh group),” Cook said.
Aleppo is a current focal point of the civil war in Syria, where Daesh Syrian Kurdish forces, Turkey-backed rebels and President Bashar Assad’s forces are vying for control. The province is frequently struck by US-led coalition airstrikes as well as Russian air raids.
Aamaq vowed revenge against the “filthy cowards in the sect of disbelief.” It said a generation raised in Daesh-held territory would avenge Al-Adnani’s death.

‘Killed battling takfiri terrorists’
In Tehran, the local media on Wednesday reported that retired Iranian general Ahmad Gholami, who had served as a senior Revolutionary Guards commander in the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, died on Tuesday “while fighting the takfiri terrorists in Aleppo, Syria.”
Iran uses the term “takfiri” to describe Sunni jihadists such as the Daesh and Al-Qaeda.
Gholami went to Iraq and Syria “voluntarily” to fight Daesh group jihadists, said the Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran is the principle backer of President Bashar Assad. It denies that any of its professional soldiers are active in Syria — insisting its commanders and generals act purely as “military advisers” — but it also leads large volunteer forces, comprised of fighters from both Iran and neighboring Afghanistan.
Iran does not provide precise casualty figures for those killed in action in Syria and Iraq, but Iranian media have previously reported “hundreds” of military advisers and volunteers have died in recent years.