Coalition hails SDF for retaking Hasakah prison; reaffirms commitment to fighting ISIS

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are pictured in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah on January 24, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are pictured in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah on January 24, 2022. (Photo: AFP)

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – The State Department published a statement on Wednesday in the name of the anti-ISIS Coalition, which highly praised the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for retaking the detention facility in Hasakah that ISIS fighters attacked last month in an attempt to free prisoners there.

“The Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS remains resolutely committed to achieving the enduring defeat of ISIS,” the statement released by the State Department began.

It also hailed the raid last week by US forces that killed ISIS’s putative head, who was hiding in Syria’s Idlib province.

“The removal of Daesh/ISIS leader Muhammad Said Abd al-Rahman al-Mawla, also known as Abd [sic] Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, from the battlefield,” it stated, “was another significant blow to the terrorist organization.” 

Read More: Biden hails Kurdish forces in operation that killed ISIS leader, fight the terrorist group

The Coalition statement used the actual name of the terrorist leader: Muhammad al-Mawla. It then followed his real name with an alias, by which he may well be better known: al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi.

Those last two names are associated with the Prophet Mohammed (the Hashimi clan of the Quraysh tribe), and their use gave the terrorist leader a fraudulent aura of religious legitimacy.

US officials often do not use al-Mawla’s real name but refer to him by the Hashimi/Qurayshi alias. Arguably, that plays into ISIS’s narrative. That this is a Coalition statement may explain the divergence from usual US practice. 

Spread of ISIS Terrorism

Indeed, addressing the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Amb. Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs at the US’s UN Mission, identified the slain terrorist as “Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, AKA Hajji Abdullah.”

Last week, when Biden announced news of the raid, he stated, briefly, that, in recent years, ISIS’s influence had increased globally.

“Hajji Abdullah oversaw the spread of ISIS-affiliated terrorist groups around the world,” Biden said, citing ISIS’s assault on the Hasakah prison and its genocide against the Yezidis.

DeLaurentis provided more detail about ISIS’s international spread. It includes Afghanistan, as well as Africa.

“Under Hajji Abdullah’s leadership,” DeLaurentis said, “ISIS provided material support to its Afghanistan branch, ISIS-Khorasan, which was responsible for the heinous attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport” on Aug. 26, which killed some 170 Afghans and 13 US soldiers.

DeLaurentis called on other countries to repatriate their citizens who are now detained in SDF facilities in northeast Syria, explaining that the US had repatriated 30 of its citizens—13 adults and 17 children. 

Referring to a Jan. 28 report on the ISIS threat prepared by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, DeLaurentis stated, “The United States is especially concerned about the increasing terrorism threat in areas of Africa outlined in the Secretary-General’s assessment.”

“ISIS and al-Qa’ida affiliates have metastasized in pockets across Africa,” DeLaurentis continued, “and grafted onto long-simmering conflicts, providing them new volatility and lethality,” while ISIS-West Africa “has grown into the largest numerically and one of the most lethal ISIS affiliates outside the core region.”

Praise for SDF; Reaffirmation of Commitment to Fight ISIS in Syria, Iraq

Wednesday’s Coalition statement echoed Biden’s earlier remarks in praising the SDF. It hailed “the swift actions of our local partners” in retaking the Hasakah prison, noting that although the SDF had suffered significant casualties during the 10 days of fighting, it had succeeded in thwarting “Daesh/ISIS’s attempt to replenish its forces with detainees housed there.”

The statement also affirmed, “The enduring defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq remains the Coalition’s top priority,” and “we will continue to leverage the Coalition’s expertise to counter Daesh/ISIS’s global branches and networks, and to bring its members to justice.”