| Washington Post | - |
The
U.S. military launched a drone strike Thursday targeting “Jihadi John,”
the masked Islamic State terrorist who beheaded several Western
hostages in Syria and came to symbolize the brutality of the militant
group, U.S.
Play Video1:17
The story of the man who became the face of the Islamic State
This recent footage of "Jihadi John" shows his role in the barbaric actions of the Islamic State. (The Washington Post)
But the Pentagon is still working to determine whether the strike killed the militant, Briton Mohammed Emwazi.
Pentagon
press secretary Peter Cook said the strike took place around the Syrian
city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital.
“We
are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide
additional information as and where appropriate,” Cook said.
If
confirmed, Emwazi’s death would cap more than a year of Western efforts
to hunt down a militant who became widely known in August 2014 when he
appeared — masked and dressed from head to toe in black — in a video in which he killed American journalist James Foley.
Emwazi subsequently appeared in grisly videos showing the killing of foreign hostages — speaking to the camera in taunting tones, with a balaclava over his face, a knife in his hand and a holster under his left arm.
Emwazi is thought to have participated in the executions of Steven Sotloff, another American journalist; Abdul-Rahman Kassig, an American aid worker; David Haines and Alan Henning, both British aid workers; and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Former Islamic State hostages have described Emwazi, one of a number of English-speaking captors dubbed “the Beatles” because of their British accents, as a vicious captor who waterboarded and beat hostages.
Officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive operation, said Thursday’s strike targeted a vehicle and may also have hit another member of the group called the Beatles.
The Washington Post identified Emwazi early this year, but the identities of the other British militants have not become public.
Play Video2:08
How The Post identified 'Jihadi John'
Foreign
policy reporter Adam Goldman explains who Mohammed Emwazi is and how
The Washington Post discovered his identity. (Gillian Brockell and Alice
Li/The Washington Post)
It’s not clear that Emwazi’s
death, if confirmed, would have an important effect on the Islamic
State’s strength or its hostage operations. But the killing of a
well-known militant who embodies the brutal tactics of the militant
group, and its allure to Westerners, would be a symbolic blow.
For
more than a year, Western officials have sought to determine the
whereabouts of Emwazi, who is thought to have made his way to Syria
around 2012 and later joined the Islamic State.Now in his mid-20s, Emwazi was born in Kuwait but grew up in a London family and studied computer programming before becoming radicalized. Emwazi was described by those who knew him before his militant days as a polite, fashionable young man who adhered to his Islamic faith.
Friends say his path toward militancy appears to have begun after his graduation from the University of Westminster, when he and several friends planned a trip to Africa, ostensibly to go to Tanzania for a safari. He was detained by authorities after arriving there and deported to Amsterdam, where he claimed to have been questioned by MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency, and accused of having tried to travel to Somalia.
Somalia is home to another militant group, al-Shabab. Emwazi denied seeking to join al-Shabab.
Emwazi later moved to his native Kuwait, where he worked for a computer company, but he returned to Britain several times. In 2010, he was detained by British authorities and barred from leaving the United Kingdom. It is not known how or when he reached Syria.
Emwazi and the other so-called Beatles appeared to grow in stature and influence within the Islamic State over time. The group has used the detention and killing of foreign hostages, which has drawn intense attention in the West, as a tool for highlighting its power and goals.
Since
it launched airstrikes over Iraq and Syria last year, the United States
has killed a number of militants it has described as senior members of
the Islamic State. But if Emwazi’s death is confirmed, he would be by
far the best-known militant to have been slain. The group’s leader, Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, remains at large.
Despite
more than a year of U.S. and allied efforts against the Islamic State,
the group remains a potent force that controls a wide swath of territory
across Iraq and Syria.
In an attempt to accelerate the isolated
successes that have occurred in recent months, the Obama administration
late last month announced measures that will expand U.S. military
involvement in both countries. For the first time, the Pentagon will position a small number of Special Operations troops on the ground in Syria.Read more:
How Mohammed Emwazi became Jihadi John: 5 key takeaways
Life in the ‘Islamic State’
Adam Goldman reports on terrorism and national security for The Washington Post.
Missy Ryan writes about the Pentagon, military issues, and national security for The Washington Post.
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