Syrian state media has challenged the US version of events concerning the killing of the leader of the Daesh* group Abu al-Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi on Wednesday. Damascus argued that it was the Syrian government army that liquidated him and not the Syrian opposition (FSA) alongside the US military, as Washington claimed.
Moreover, according to some Arabic media Abu al-Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurash and Abd al-Rahman al-Iraqi, known as Saif Baghdad are the same person. According to the Syrian state media, the latter was eliminated during the security operation carried out by the Syrian Arab Forces, in cooperation with civil groups from Daraa, against Daesh* in the northern neighborhood of Jasim city on October 15, 2022.
The US CENTCOM, however, claimed that the operation was carried out by the Syrian Free Army (SFA) in Deraa province in southern Syria. It should be noted that the Syrian Free Army operates mainly in northern Syria, and includes numerous groups of the Syrian opposition.
It's reported that Abu al-Hussein al-Qurashi became the new leader of Daesh* after the death of Abu al-Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi. He is allegedly responsible for the operations which were conducted in the northern region of Daraa, and supervised Daesh’s* extension to Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian lands.
*Daesh (IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.