WASHINGTON – A U.S. air strike this month killed a senior Islamic State militant who oversaw the group’s information and propaganda activities, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The strike against Wael Adel Salman al-Fayad took place Sept. 7 around the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s defacto capital, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. Cook described Fayad as “one of ISIL’s most senior leaders” who was minister of information and a member of the group’s Shura Council. ISIL is an acronym for the Islamic State.
Cook said the Fayad had been a key figure in the Islamic State’s production of gory videos showing the mistreatment and slaughter of prisoners.
The online activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported the death of Fayad, also known as Abu Mohamed Furqan, earlier in the day on Twitter. The group said that Fayad had led the Islamic State’s sophisticated online and social media operations, which have helped promote the militants’ message and attract follows from North Africa to the former Soviet Union.
The news of Fayad’s death comes several days after the Pentagon said it had confirmed that Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State spokesman, died in a U.S. strike in August. According to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, Fayad had been designated for selecting someone to replace Adnani, who died just a week before Fayad.
As the Obama administration targets Islamic State leaders from the air, the U.S. military is hoping to accelerate the ground campaign against the group in both Syria and Iraq. U.S. Special Operations troops are now on the ground in Syria supporting partner forces battling the Islamic State.
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(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Missy Ryan, Karen DeYoung
