Airstrike kills IS leader in Syria: Pentagon

WASHINGTON - A senior Islamic State group (IS) leader who raised funds, recruited fighters and procured weapons for the group has been killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said on Thursday.  

Tariq bin Tahar al-Awni al-Harzi was killed in the northern city of Shaddadi on 16 June, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement. 

His brother Ali, an IS recruiter and person of interest in the 2012 Benghazi attack, was killed by an airstrike in Iraq a day earlier.

The Pentagon said Harzi was "responsible for moving people and material into Syria and Iraq" and also raised funds to recruit fighters and facilitate travel. 

In addition, he supported IS by procuring and shipping weapons from Libya to Syria, where the militants have taken large swathes of territory. 

He also aided with suicide attacks.   

The Pentagon said his death was a significant blow to IS. 

"His death will impact ISIL's ability to integrate foreign terrorist fighters into the Syrian and Iraqi fight as well as to move people and equipment across the border between Syria and Iraq," Davis said, using an alternative acronym for the group.