It's always good to see bad terrorists being turned into good terrorists. The latest goblin to have his birth certificate permanently revoked was one Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, the leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. On Friday, the Iraqi government announced al-Rifai was taken out in an airstrike.

The world is now a slightly better place.

The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday.

“The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of the militant group and as “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world,” the statement said.

Details on the operation are still sparse, but we do know that the ISIS goblin was taken out in Iraq on Thursday night in an airstrike; it is not yet known whose aircraft carried out the strike.

A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai’s death was confirmed Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The Trump administration quickly weighed in with social media posts late Friday:

Big news.

The world is a safer place with Donald Trump as America’s Commander in Chief. pic.twitter.com/zyfX2s3LmX

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 15, 2025

President Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that al-Rifai wasn't the only member of ISIS taken out:

Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!

The president's comment about "our intrepid warfighters" would appear to suggest that U.S. forces were directly involved to some degree, but there is no confirmation so far. But to whatever extent the U.S. was involved in this operation, it isn't the first time we were involved in reducing the global population of terrorists, and it certainly won't be the last.

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This is another example of "the rules have changed." And full credit to Iraq, to whatever extent their intelligence services were involved in finding Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai and turning him into a fine pink mist. These people - ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and their ilk - are a threat not only to the nations of the Middle East, but they are enemies of civilization itself. Finding and eliminating them is always a good thing to do. And if the United States' involvement involves an airstrike using a precision munition, an operation that places no U.S. service members in the direct line of fire, so much the better.

ISIS and its fellow travelers should be looking over their shoulders today and sweating, knowing that sooner or later, it's going to be their turn to have their pronouns changed to "was" and "were."