With watchers on the ground and spy drones overhead, US zeroed in on Islamic State leader's hideout

[Zorro]

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi had only one leg, and that helped officials find him at a house in northwestern Syria

Last fall, a U.S. spy drone moved into position over a house on the edge of an olive grove in northwestern Syria, its camera straining for a glimpse of a bearded man who was said to live inside. The man, who was sometimes called “the professor,” had lost a leg in war and rarely left his third-floor apartment. So the drone fixed its lens on the building’s rooftop terrace and waited.

Other intelligence assets with cameras and remote sensors joined the vigil, above and around the house, and eventually the effort was rewarded. On certain days, weather permitting, the man could be seen hobbling onto the terrace with a mat for his daily prayers. At other times he took along a towel and rinsed off in a rooftop shower. Occasionally he would venture outside for a short walk, or just to stand at the door for some fresh air.

The man’s physical disability stood out. He was missing his right leg. It matched precisely the description of the man who was the subject of the intensive search: Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, leader of the Islamic State.

With additional surveillance, U.S. intelligence analysts confirmed the identity. After a two-year manhunt, the elusive Qurayshi had been spotted, first by informants on the ground, and then that tip was confirmed by the drone’s telescopic lens. For U.S. officials involved in the search, two questions remained. One was how to kill or capture him while minimizing risk to U.S. forces and to the more than a dozen women and children who lived in the same building. The other: whether to strike quickly, or to wait and try to gather more information about Qurayshi’s far-flung network of underground terrorist cells.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/10/isis-qurayshi-raid/