KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Islamic State militant group has suffered yet another major blow when the group’s top hacker and recruiter was killed in U.S. airstrike.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Patrick Ryder confirmed that that Junaid Hussain was killed on August 24 in a U.S. strike in Raqqa, Syria.
Hussain was a British citizen also went by the name Abu Hussain al Britani had been put on the Pentagon’s list most wanted Islamic State targets.
Hussain was described as highly capable with significant technical skills and expressed strong desire to kill Americans and more so recruit others to kill Americans.
ASSESSMENT
Hussain grew up in Britain and during his teenage joined a British hacking group known as Team Poison.
Officials believed he fled to Syria in 2013 and is believed to be part of Islamic State fighters that included Jihadi John who executed American Journalist James Foley.
Hussain had become a persistent presence on the social media platform like twitter and was believed to the brains behind the Islamic State’s Cyber Caliphate hacker group.
While addressing the media on Friday August 28, 2105, National Security Council spokeswoman Dew Tiantawach said that Hussain was actively involved in recruiting of ISIL sympathizers in the west. He called on them to carry out lone-wolf style attacks.
According to the U.S. official, Hussain was responsible for releasing high profile information of personal data on approximately 1,300 U.S. military and government employees and encouraging Islamic State fighters to target them.
Another U.S. intelligence official described Hussain’s death a “major blow,” adding his “reach to ISIL supporters around the world and his cyber background will be hard to replace.”
SUMMARY & FORECAST
U.S. sees Hussain’s death as an indication of significant progress in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
U.S. Intelligence has indicated that Hussain’s death has dented the militant capability as he was highly relied on. His death is just among a string key losses for the violent extremist group which on August 18, lost it second in command, Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali in an airstrike near Iraq city of Mosul
U.S. intensified strikes on the ISIL targets and ability to remove key figures from the battlefield shows the scope and resolve of America’s determination to root out the group.
Hussain was married to Sally Jones, another British-born Islamic State recruiter who goes by Umm Hussain al Britani on social media accounts and believed were living in Raqqa with Hussain together with their son.
