I'm John Batsh with my colleague Bill Rajo, senior fellow foundation for defensive democracies.

He keeps the Long War Journal.

Iraq, U.S. Central Command carried out an airstrike that killed Abdullah Maki Musli al-Rathar, known as Abu Qadidija.

Rafi was a top leader in the Islamic State.

The Islamic State in Iraq, Bill, is that still a credible force?

Yes, so the Islamic State still has a significant presence in Iraq.

It operates primarily in very rural areas and desert areas

of both Iraq and Syria. It's still a dangerous organization. It launches attacks in both countries.

Now, the Iraqi government has done a decent job in going after the leadership of the Islamic

state.

And I know him better as Abu Qajada, so I'll refer to him as such.

He's a very important individual within the Islamic State.

The U.S. military identified him as the Islamic State's second in command.

He's the leader of what is known as the head of the general directorate of provinces,

as well as he's also a leader, which basically makes him the chief of their global operations.

That position, the Islamic State has provinces in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia and Southeast Asia.

So someone like the head of the GDP would be coordinating this operation.

It's akin to what Al-Qaeda describes as their general manager.

So it's an extremely important position.

But he may have been the head of these overall, near the caliph of the Islamic State.

There's a dispute.

The United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team has discussed this in its last report from mid-February. There's not a dispute,

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