ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq on Friday announced the killing of a senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader in a joint operation with coalition forces inside Syrian territory.

The Iraqi counterterrorism service said that they had killed “Omar Abdel Qader Bassam, known as ‘Abdul Rahman al-Halabi,’ one of the most prominent leaders of the terrorist organization ISIS.”

Halabi held the “position of head of operations and external security in the organization,” the service said in a statement, adding that “he was also directly involved in the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Lebanon and attempts to carry out other terrorist operations in Europe and the United States.”

The operation was conducted in coordination with the coalition forces inside Syrian territory, according to the statement.

Despite being territorially defeated in 2017, ISIS militants continue to pose a security threat in Iraq through sporadic hit-and-run operations and attacks on remote areas. Iraqi forces, in cooperation with Kurdish forces, have intensified their efforts to eliminate these remnants.

Iraqi security forces arrested over 500 terror suspects in 2024, according to data from the Iraqi National Security Service.

The operation comes amid an agreement between the US and Iraq for the withdrawal of foreign troops in the country by September 2026, with Baghdad saying that their forces are now able to continue the fight against terror, long aided by the US-led coalition.

The sentiment is opposed by authorities in the Kurdistan Region, who believe that ISIS still remains an active threat on the country and foreign aid remains crucial in the process of fighting the group’s remnants.