Maher al-Agal

Maher al-Agal (Arabic: مَاهِرُ ٱلْعَقَّالْ, romanized: Māhir al-'Aqāl; died 12 July 2022) was a top commander and leader for the Islamic State in Syria.^[1][2][3] He was involved in aggressively developing IS networks outside Iraq and Syria, according to CENTCOM.^[1][4][5] Al-Agal was also a commander for Jaysh al-Sharqiyyah.^[6][7]

History

Little is known about his life other than his military history.

He was a part of the Islamic State in Raqqa when the organisation still held that territory.^[8] When he presumably rose the ranks, he was aggressively spreading IS networks outside of Iraq and Syria worldwide.^[1][4][5]

Around 2020, al-Agal would be a member of Turkish-backed factions and would live in Afrin in northwestern Syria, where he would soon become a commander of a Syrian rebel group called Jaysh Al-Sharqiyyah.^[8]

Death

At 12 July 2022, in Ghaltan village outside the town of Jindires, in northwest Syria, near the border of Hatay Province in Turkey, al-Agal was targeted by a US drone strike while riding his motorcycle,^[9] along with an unidentified IS official who was his close affiliate.^[3] The attack killed al-Agal and seriously injured the other IS official.^[1] This attack took extensive planning for it to come out as a successful operation, without any civilian casualties.^[10] The Pentagon used al-Agal's death as an example that they don't need thousands of troops to get rid of threats in their country.^[2]

See also

• Islamic State
• List of Islamic State members