ISIS Leader Arrested In Iraq: REPORT

A top ISIS leader and al-Qaida affiliate was arrested during a cross-border operation in Iraq, leaders said on Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Sami Jasim led ISIS‘ financial operations and was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s deputy leader of the terrorist organization, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. The operation was “one of the most difficult” intelligence operations outside of Iraq’s borders, al-Kadhimi said.

The U.S. State Department offered up to $5 million for Jasim, according to Rewards For Justice. Jasim was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the State Department in September 2015.

“While serving as IS deputy in southern Mosul in 2014, Jasim reportedly served as the equivalent of IS’s finance minister, supervising the group’s revenue-generating operations from illicit sales of oil, gas, antiquities, and minerals,” according to the State Department.

Jasim was detained in a foreign country and later moved to Iraq, Iraqi intelligence officials told the AP on the condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to speak on the matter.

Jasim held several security positions after a U.S. airstrike killed Jordanian al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq in 2006, according to the AP. Jasim moved to Syria in 2015 and became al-Baghdadi’s deputy.

Al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid in Syria in 2019, according to the AP.