U.S. Successfully Eliminates ISIS Leader Despite Russian Interference

According to The Independent, the US killed an ISIS leader in Syria through a drone strike on July 9, 2023. However, Russian jets had interfered with the US mission just hours earlier. This is not the first time Russia has interfered with US affairs. A report by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election. The report warns that if the US fails to work with urgency to address this complex and growing threat, the regime in Moscow will become further emboldened. It will continue to develop and refine its arsenal to use on democracies around the world, including against US elections in 2018 and 2020.

In 2019, US President Donald Trump announced that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself during a daring overnight raid by elite US special operations forces in Syria. The US was able to carry out the raid with the help of Russia, who opened up its airspace for the mission and Kurdish allies who gave some helpful information, according to Trump.

The US has been involved in conflicts in the Middle East for many years, including the war in Afghanistan and the fight against al-Shabaab in Somalia. In recent years, US air strikes in Somalia have spiked under the Trump administration, totaling more than 275 reported strikes.