A U.S. military drone strike killed a senior ISIL leader on June 16, the Department of Defense confirmed to reporters on July 2. Tariq bin Tahar al-‘Awni al-Harzi was killed by a coalition airstrike in Shaddadi, Syria.
One other ISIL member was killed in the strike, but his identity has not been released. The Department is not releasing how the deaths were confirmed and by whom.
“As an ISIL member, he worked to raise funds and recruit and facilitate the travel of fighters for the terrorist organization,” Defense spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said. “Al-Harzi also worked to provide materiel to ISIL by procuring and shipping weapons from Libya to Syria for ISIL.”
The Department said that al-Harzi’s death will impede ISIL’s ability to move fighters across the Syrian and Iraqi borders.
The Pentagon also recently released confirmation that al-Harzi’s brother, Ali bin Tahar al-‘Awni al-Harzi – also a member of ISIL and suspected for involvement into the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya – was killed in a recent drone strike.
source : abna
