Title: ISIS Leadership Change Confirmed: Death of Al-Qurashi

The spokesperson for the Islamic State organization confirmed in an undated recording on the group's Telegram channel the death of its leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi. The spokesperson announced that the organization has chosen Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the new leader. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated in April that Turkish intelligence forces killed Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi in Syria. The organization, which has weakened since it once controlled a third of Iraq and Syria, did not provide any details about its new leader. The group reached the peak of its power in 2014 when its then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamic caliphate over the territories it controlled. The organization lost the areas it had controlled in both countries due to counter-operations involving a coalition led by the United States. Al-Baghdadi was killed in an American military operation in Syria in 2019. Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi took over the leadership of the organization in November 2022 after the death of his predecessor, also in Syria. The militants of the organization continue to carry out armed attacks in both Syria and Iraq.