French President Macron says that France killed an ISIS leader in Africa

 

French President Emmanuel Macron. Reuters.

French President Emmanuel Macron says that France has killed an ISIS leader in Africa. Reuters. Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was the leader of ISIS's Islamic State in the Great Sahara affiliate. Al-Sahrawi was responsible for an attack on US soldiers in 2017 and the murder of six French aid workers and their Nigerian in 2020. It is unclear how al-Sahrawi was killed. France has been deeply involved in fighting Islamic militants in the Sahel region. Macron has been redeploying their troops there. 

My Comment:

Not a whole lot of info on how al-Sahrawi died. It seems like it was the French military but it doesn't say if he was killed in an airstrike or by ground troops. It could even have been a drone strike. In the end it doesn't really matter as long as he is dead.

Al-Sahrawi joins a long list of dead ISIS fighters and leadership. Indeed, there are hardly any major ISIS leaders left. And ISIS in Africa is one of the few remaining ISIS groups with much in the way of fighters and leadership. Now even they are down one of their leaders. 

France does deserve praise for their efforts at fighting ISIS in North Africa. They have done a good job in destroying them and protecting not only their own citizens but the citizens of their former colonies. And it's not just ISIS, they have dealt crippling blows to local al-Qaeda affiliates as well. 

I do know that France has been moving their forces around. Part of that is due to success against these Islamic fighters but part of it was just war fatigue. People in France do want these wars to end and don't really support the war anymore. France obviously has major domestic problems to deal with so it isn't surprising. 

As for ISIS I do worry that they could make a comeback. The fall of Afghanistan was a major defeat for the West and a major inspiration for Jihadists everywhere. They don't have much in the way of leadership or even fighters but the supply of young disillusioned men that are also Muslim is pretty endless. France is doing a good job at fighting them in North Africa but North Africa is hardly the only place they could regroup...