ISIS Finance Chief Captured By Iraqi Forces, Says Iraqi Prime Minister

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) – Iraqi forces captured Sami Jasim, the deputy to former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi prime minister said in a statement on Monday.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi did not reveal details of the operation, however, in a statement posted on Twitter, he said that Jasim was detained outside of Iraq. He did not reveal the place or date of the arrest.

“While our heroes [de las Fuerzas de Seguridad iraquíes] concentrated on securing elections, their colleagues [del Servicio Nacional de Inteligencia Iraquí] they were carrying out a complex external operation to capture Sami Jasim, who was in charge of Daesh’s finances, and a deputy of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, “Al-Kadhimi said.

Jasim, also known as “Abu Asya”, served as the financial supervisor of the terrorist group under Al-Baghdadi since 2015, according to Iraqi security expert Fadel Abu Regheef. He lived in Mosul in 2012, until he met Baghdadi the same year, Abu Regheef told CNN.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury labeled Jasim a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, a designation that imposes financial sanctions on terrorists and those who provide support for terrorists or acts of terrorism.

In 2016, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) reported that Jasim and an aide had been killed in a joint operation with US special forces.

However, in 2019, the US State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” program offered a $ 5 million reward for Jasim (also known as Sami Jasim Muhammad al-Jabur) and two other senior leaders of the ISIS, showing that the US authorities believed he was still alive. “Muhammad al-Jaburi has been instrumental in managing the finances of ISIS terrorist operations,” the State Department said.

Baghdadi became the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2010. In 2013, ISI declared its takeover of an Al Qaeda-backed militant group in Syria and Baghdadi said that his group will now be known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levante (ISIL or ISIS).

Later that year, the followers of Baghdadi entered Raqqa for the first time. That kicked off their ambitions in Syria and led in June 2014 to the establishment of what they called an Islamic “caliphate.”

They had rules, an army and briefly a currency, but little more than three years later they were reduced to fighting for remnants of Mosul in Iraq and the object of a major offensive against their de facto capital in Raqqa.

ISIS’s control over Mosul officially collapsed in July 2017, when then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that troops had recaptured the metropolis.

Baghdadi was killed by US forces during a raid in Syria in 2019. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces provided “early intelligence” that “was very helpful,” US Central Command General Frank McKenzie said after the operation. .

CNN’s Kara Fox, Ryan Browne and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.