4 February 2022
Atmeh, Syria – Mousab al-Sheikh is in shock.
The structure was destroyed during an overnight United States special forces operation on Thursday that killed at least 13 people, including six children, according to first responders. The following evening, US President Joe Biden said the operation had targeted and led to the death of ISIL (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. US officials said al-Qurayshi blew himself up, also killing his wife and children. ISIL has yet to acknowledge his death.
On Friday morning, al-Sheikh and other residents in Atmeh, a town hosting people displaced by Syria’s decade-old war, told Al Jazeera they had never seen the shadowy ISIL leader – but they would sometimes encounter a man who turned out to be his key facilitator.
“My father rented out the second floor to a man 11 months ago who was displaced from Aleppo – the contract was in his name, Moustapha Sheikh Youssef,” Al-Sheikh recalls, adding that the man was referred to as Abu Ahmad. “There was nothing suspicious. He just said he worked in Sarmada, where he would repair damaged cars and resell them.”
Abu Ahmad moved in with his wife and several children. He would visit al-Sheikh to pay $130 in rent, and did so always on time.
Source Aljazeera
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