A coalition airstrike on Sept. 7 killed a senior ISIS leader who served as the group’s minister of information, the Pentagon announced. The strike near Raqqa, Syria, killed Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, or Dr. Wa’il, who led the group’s propaganda and served as a member of the group’s senior leadership group, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a Friday statement. Wa’il, as minister of information, oversaw production of propaganda videos, including those showing executions. He was a close associate of ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who was killed in an Aug. 30 strike. “The removal of ISIL’s senior leaders degrades its ability to retain territory, and its ability to plan, finance, and direct attacks inside and outside of the region,” Cook said in the statement.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
