I’m pretty sure Republicans will not be happy with this news. Since the torture report was made public, Republicans began using the foolish talking-point that President Obama’s use of drones and air strikes to kill terrorist is the same as torture. So hearing about top ISIS members being killed by US air strikes might cause these Republicans grief.
Haji Mutazz was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s deputy in Iraq; Abd al Basit was his military emir in Iraq; and Radwan Talib was his Mosul emir. Their deaths resulted from multiple strikes going back to mid-November — it has taken until now to determine conclusively they were killed.
“I can confirm that since mid-November, targeted coalition airstrikes successfully killed multiple senior and mid-level leaders within the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby, in a statement on Thursday.
“We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL’s ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq,” he said.
News of the killings was first disclosed by Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
