US President Joe Biden said on Thursday a special forces raid in Syria targeting the Islamic State group leader was carried out instead of an airstrike to avoid civilian casualties.
“Knowing that this terrorist had chosen to surround himself with families, including children, we made a choice to pursue a special forces raid at a much greater risk to our own people, rather than targeting him with an airstrike,” Biden said. “We made this choice to minimize civilian casualties.”
A senior official told AFP that all casualties in the raid, during which IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi blew himself up, “were due to the acts of ISIS terrorists,” using another acronym for IS.
This is a developing story..
