Jihadi social media: Khorasan Group leader Muhsin al-Fadhli killed in U.S. airstrikes in Syria
A brief but important follow-up to Ed's item this morning. You probably don't recognize the name in the headline; until recently, I didn't either. In fact, the name of the Khorasan Group itself wasn't leaked to the media until last week, although James Clapper had alluded months ago to unnamed AQ operatives inside Syria wanting to hit the U.S. from afar.
Turns out al-Fadhli has been on U.S. intel's radar for a loooong time, though. And now he's dead — maybe.
My knee-jerk reaction is that jihadis wouldn't be touting a victory for America unless there was some truth to it, although I suppose the death rumors could just be a way to throw western spies off his trail while he slips out of the country. As for al-Fadhli's significance, the NYT had a nice backgrounder on him a few days ago. He's only 33 but was already so far up the Al Qaeda food chain as a teenager that he allegedly knew about the 9/11 attack in advance, one of only a few AQ capos who did. His specialty is fundraising and recruiting; Bush mentioned him by name in a speech nine years ago for his role in rounding up personnel for an attack on a French ship in 2002.
Two years ago the State Department accused him of being the de facto leader of Al Qaeda's chapter inside Iran and announced a $7 million reward for his capture. The latest on him was that he'd snuck into Syria and was using his safe haven in Nusra Front territory to recruit jihadis from western nations for terror operations back in their home countries. They've got U.S. and UK passports, after all; as long as they're not on a terror watch list, they can waltz right through the airport after their flight home and head off to meet their contact.
Then again, maybe their flights home weren't supposed to land...Also read:
Rally point: Should Obama start talking about combat forces now?
International community concerned America violating international law by striking Syria?
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