President Donald Trump has taken out some of the world’s top terrorists in a matter of months, approving military raids and strikes that have decapitated the leadership of various terror-affiliated organizations.
The death of Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, on Thursday night, was just the latest in a line of successful assassinations by the Trump administration.
Hamza bin Laden
While it is unclear when exactly Hamza bin Laden, the son of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was killed, Trump confirmed his death in mid-September. The younger bin Laden was taking on a more prominent role in al-Qaeda before he was killed in a U.S.-led counterterrorism operation in South Asia.
The State Department had put out a $1 million reward for information on bin Laden’s whereabouts in early 2019, but reports say he may have been killed anytime between 2017 and 2019.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed during a Trump-approved U.S. special forces raid in late October.
The raid reportedly lasted about two hours and took place at al-Baghdadi’s compound in Syria. al-Baghdadi was chased into a tunnel by a special forces canine and, after reaching a dead end, the ISIS leader killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. Three children were also killed in the blast. (RELATED: Here’s The Timeline Of The Raid That Left ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi Dead)
Trump later gave a medal to Conan, the dog who successfully chased down al-Baghdadi.
We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi! pic.twitter.com/PDMx9nZWvw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019
Abu Hassan al-Muhajir
Shortly after the death of al-Baghdadi, Trump announced that the U.S. had also killed his likely successor to lead ISIS.
“Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops,” the president tweeted in late October. “Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!”
Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2019
A U.S. official confirmed to NBC News that Trump was referring to ISIS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir.
Qasem Soleimani
Trump ordered an airstrike Thursday that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force. The military leader was allegedly planning an imminent attack on American compounds in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon that would kill hundreds of Americans, according to the State Department. Soleimani also approved an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which forced the U.S. ambassador in Iraq to evacuate.
At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 3, 2020
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kataeb Hezbollah or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), was killed in the same airstrike that took out Soleimani. Kataeb Hezbollah was responsible for a recent attack that killed an American contractor, which kicked off a series of retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and ultimately led to the storming of the embassy. al-Muhandis had promised to “stop America and all of its Iraqi cronies” after the strikes.