The Pentagon announced Monday that a U.S. airstrike in Mosul earlier in June killed an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist believed linked to the 2012 Benghazi attack.
Ali Awni al-Harzi was a known ISIS “operative and organizational intermediary who was a person of interest” in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack against the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, said Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren in a statement.
{mosads}The airstrike took place on June 15 in Mosul, a key Iraqi city which fell to ISIS fighters in June 2014.
Al-Harzi operated “closely with multiple ISIL-associated extremists throughout North Africa and the Middle East,” Warren said, using another name for the terror group.
“His death degrades ISIL’s ability to integrate North African jihadists into the Syrian and Iraqi fight and removes a jihadist with long ties to international terrorism,” he added.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence committee, said al-Harzi was “responsible for planning hundreds of suicide attacks across the world” and was one of the first foreign fighters to join ISIS.
Schiff said al-Harzi had a previous leadership role in Al Qaeda in Iraq, and was also responsible for recruiting foreign fighters and sending them to fight in Syria.
“He is also suspected of involvement in their hostage program, and to have played a role in the 2011 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that tragically killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens,” Schiff said.
“While it may have taken years to track down and eliminate Ali Awni al Harzi, those who kill Americans must understand that our memories are long and our commitment to justice is steadfast,” he added.
Schiff said the announcement was an “important reminder to terrorists who target Americans.”
“You will not be safe anywhere,” he said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said in previous testimony revealed in January 2014 that the U.S. cannot strike terrorists involved in the Benghazi attack since they are not officially affiliated with Al Qaeda.
However, since Aug. 7, the Obama administration has targeted the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria under the 2001 authorization for use of military force, since it was previously known as Al Qaeda in Iraq.