A March 13 airstrike in Iraq’s Anbar province by US Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated Abdallah Makki Muslih al Rifai, a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) who may have served as the group’s overall leader. Rifai’s position within the Islamic State is in dispute, as some intelligence services believe he was the emir of IS’s General Directorate of Provinces, while others think he may have been the caliph of the global terror group.
CENTCOM said in a statement on March 15 that Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, was killed alongside another IS member in the strike. CENTCOM described Rifai as the “Chief of Global Operations for ISIS and the Delegated Committee Emir,” and the second in command of the group. The “Chief of Global Operations” is another term for the emir of the Islamic State’s General Directorate of Provinces (GDP). The head of the GDP is responsible for coordinating the activities of the 12 provinces the jihadist group operates in Asia and Africa, present in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, and the Philippines.
Rafai “maintained responsibility for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by ISIS globally, and directs a significant portion of finance for the group’s global organization,” CENTCOM reported. After the strike, DNA analysis was used to identify the jihadist leader.
