TerrorismU.S. drones kill ISIS leader tied to 2012 Benghazi attack

The Pentagon said that a U.S. drone strike in northern Iraq on 15 June killed Ali Awni al-Harzi, a Tunisian Islamic State operative who was involved in the 11 September 2012 Benghazi attack.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said al-Harzi was killed in Mosul.

“Ali Awni al-Harzi, a known ISIL operative and organizational intermediary who was a person of interest in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack against U.S. personnel in Benghazi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Mosul, Iraq, on June 15,” said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.

“Al-Harzi operated closely with multiple ISIL-associated extremists throughout North Africa and the Middle East. 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.”

ABC News reports that a video taken the night of the attack in Benghazi showed him at the consulate, making him a person of interest, U.S. authorities said.

Last September the U.S. Treasury Department had designated him as a terrorist operating for or on behalf of ISIS.

The Treasury, in its explanation for the designation of al-Harzi as a terrorist, said he had arranged for ISIS to receive about $2 million from a Qatar-based financial facilitator in September 2013. The Qatari benefactors required that he only use the funds for military operations.

Treasury also said that he led foreign operations for IS in mid-2013 and had instructed individuals to plan a major operation targeting a commander of the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

In April, the State Department designated al-Harzi as a “specially designated Global Terrorist.” A statement described him as a “Syrian-based Tunisian national” who “joined Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AAS-T) in 2011 and was a high-profile member known for recruiting volunteers, facilitating the travel of AAS-T fighters to Syria, and for smuggling weapons and explosives into Tunisia.”

Al-Harzi also operated closely with IS-affiliated militants throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

In September, the U.S. Treasury described al-Harzi as a “high-profile” member of Islamic State, with responsibility for raising funds for the group as well as recruiting and facilitating the travel of IS fighters since 2013.

Al-Harzi was arrested in Turkey in October 2011 when he and another man tried to enter that country with false passports. He was deported to Tunisia, and in December 2012, FBI agents were able to interview him in a Tunisian jail about his possible role in the consulate attack.

In January 2013, however, the Islamist Enhada government, then in power in Tunisia, released him from jail.

A-Harzi was one of the first people to join ISIS as a fighter. He was given the title of “emir” and was placed in charge of a section of the border region between Syria and Turkey. In that role he was in a position to help facilitate the travel of Europeans to Syria via Turkey, including volunteers from Albania, Britain, and Denmark.

“Ali Awni al-Harzi was responsible for planning hundreds of suicide attacks across the world, and was one of the first foreign fighters to join ISIL,” said Representative Adam Schiff (D-California), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “Given his role within the terrorist organization, and his previous leadership in Al Qaeda in Iraq, he was also responsible for recruiting foreign fighters and sending them to the 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 U.S. consulate in Benghazi that tragically killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.”

“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.” Schiff added.

Al-Harzi’s brother, Tariq Bin-al-Tahar Bin al Falih al-‘Awni al-Harzi, a senior ISIS leader in his own right, has a $3 million reward as part of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program.