What Happened?

On March 13th, 2025, senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai was killed by a special operations U.S. military group and the Iraqi national intelligence agency. He was part of the senior decision-making of the Islamic State. He was the mind behind many attacks globally. This man was also one of the financial directors of the terrorist organization. The state of Iraq announced that they defeated ISIS in 2017, but terrorist ideology lives on, and small pockets of the IS still remain throughout the country.

What does this mean?

He was one of the most important people in the entire organization, so is this a major blow to the Islamic State globally? As seen in another terrorist organization, Hezbollah, the deaths of major operational leaders were portrayed in headlines as major events. However, new leaders would be appointed within the hour to continue operations. Despite this guy being extremely powerful, due to the complex organization of groups like ISIS, it is unlikely that this will be a major limiting factor to their operations.