(14 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baghdad – 14 March 2025
1. Iraqi security officials during the news conference
2. Logo of Joint Operations Command written in Arabic and English
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lt. Gen. Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command JOC:
“Yesterday at 18:30 O’clock, 06:30 p.m., in a qualitative operation with technical and air support, and intelligence information provided by the Coalition, an airstrike was conducted and the terrorist Abdallah Maki Mosleh known as Abu Khadija was killed. He was served as so called the ‘deputy caliph’ and the leader of Iraq and Syria of the IS terrorist organization. Also, he served as the director of foreign operation in the whole world, and he was one of the most important and dangerous terrorist leaders chased in Iraq and the whole region.”
4. Iraqi and army divisions flags in news conference
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lt. Gen. Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command JOC:
“Fortifying the borders and supplying the units with observation, technical devices and surveillance planes, then reinforcing the human resources and all these elements were completed approximately before the recent events in Syria, and it was strengthened after these events. Therefore, and through your respected channels I assure our people that our borders are safe, our units are prepared for any action.”
6. Al-Muhammadawi leaving the conference hall
STORYLINE:
The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, according to official.
Lt. Gen. Qais al-Muhammadawi Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command JOC said during a news conference in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that the operation was completed late Thursday.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of the militant group and “one of most important and dangerous terrorist leaders chased in Iraq and the whole region," said al-Muhammadawi.
Another security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The announcement came on the same day as the first visit by Syria’s top diplomat to Iraq, during which the two countries pledged to work together to combat IS.
The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.
When the agreement was reached to end the coalition’s mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the threat of IS was under control and they no longer needed Washington’s help to beat back the remaining cells.
But the fall of Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
AP video by Ali Jabar
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