A building destroyed in the aftermath of a counter-terrorism mission conducted by the U.S. Special Operations Forces is seen in Atmeh, Syria, February 3, 2022. Mohamed Al-Daher/Handout via REUTERS REUTERS

i24 News – Israel “has been involved in and aided” US efforts to eliminate Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, Channel 13 reported Thursday evening citing unnamed foreign sources.

“It is possible to assess, according to security sources, that Israel participated in the search for al-Qurayshi’s intelligence and contributed, using its sources in Syria, to create this bridge which allowed the United States to act,” the channel said.

The United States “has eliminated a major terrorist threat in the world,” US President Joe Biden said Thursday in a brief and solemn address at the White House.

In his address, Biden confirmed that “in a final act of desperate cowardice, (al-Qurayshi) … chose to blow himself up… taking several members of his family with him.”

He followed the operation from the ultra-secure “Situation Room,” as evidenced by a photo released by the White House, showing the president alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

The raid came days after an ISIS assault on an SDF-held prison ended, the jihadist group’s biggest offensive since its territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

Despite losing its strongholds in Syria and neighboring Iraq, the Islamic State group continues to carry out attacks through sleeper cells.

The complex war in Syria, a fragmented country where different protagonists intervene, has killed around 500,000 people since 2011.