Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State’s predecessor, al-Qaida, more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by USA forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution.
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Russian and Syrian regime aircraft conduct airstrikes in the city of Aleppo, but US military aircraft do not fly over the city because USA military officials say there is not a large ISIS presence there.
Adnani, a senior leader in the group, has been the voice of Islamic State over the past few years, and has released numerous, lengthy audio files online in which he delivered fiery sermons urging followers to carry out attacks.
“He has coordinated the movement of ISIL fighters, directly encouraged lone-wolf attacks on civilians and members of the military and actively recruited new ISIL members”, he said.
The Islamic State’s news outlet, Amaq, said Adnani had been killed while checking up on the group’s military operations in Aleppo province. Fighting has escalated in the city in recent weeks, with rebels breaking a siege by government forces and Syrian and Russian warplanes carrying out air strikes on rebel-held areas.
“He was their most prolific and public spokesman”, said Will McCants, a former State Department official and expert on the Islamic State.
Al-Adnani has been with ISIS since its beginnings and was close to al-Baghdadi, CNN’s Nic Roberston said.
Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to IS’s predecessor al-Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by USA forces in Iraq, according to the Washington think-tank Brookings Institution. He said US officials are “still assessing the results of the operation”.
The US Department of Justice considers Adnani a senior leader in IS, and had issued a $5 million reward for his capture.
As the Islamic State’s spokesman, Adnani was its most visible member.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, took control of a large swath of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but it lost some ground in recent months.
Amaq vowed to gain revenge for the killing. In January, al-Adnani was reported injured in a coalition airstrike. He was the first ISIS official to announce the group’s self-declared Caliphate in Syria and Iraq in June 2014.
Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, an expert on jihadist groups, said Adnani’s death was “significant symbolically and in pointing to the wider decline of the Islamic State”. “He’s the head of their propaganda”, Callimachi said.
“Al-Adnani is ISIL’s main conduit for the dissemination of official messages, including ISIL’s declaration of the creation of an Islamic Caliphate”, reads the program’s website of al-Adnani, born in Syria in 1977.
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In other words, Callimachi said, Adnani has been directly linked to the attacks overseas, like the one in Paris.
