US evaporated 'Jihadi John' off the face of the earth

The drone strike that wiped out ISIS executioner “Jihadi John” in Syria was controlled from an Air Force base deep in the Nevada desert in an operation months in the making, it was revealed Friday. “This guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a better place,” military spokesman US Army Col. Steven Warren said Friday. Authorities are “99.9 percent sure” ISIS madman Mohammed Emwazi, 27, died during the US drone strike, which kicked off just before midnight local time on Thursday, a US official told The Post. Three aerial vehicles — including a British drone and two MQ-9 Reaper drones owned by the US — had been following Emwazi for most of the day as he met with various people around the city, sources said. At 11:40 p.m., drone operators stationed thousands of miles away at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada were given the green light as Emwazi got into a car at the Islamic courts in Raqqa, the Telegraph reported. The operators released two Hellfire missiles, blowing the vehicle to bits. “We didn’t strike until we ID’d him coming out of the building and getting into the vehicle,” the U.S. official said. “We had a strong confirmation on who was getting in the vehicle and photographic evidence that the car evaporated.” Authorities had been monitoring Emwazi for a few days as he visited family in Raqqa and spent time at an Islamic State media operations center, officials said. The sudden attack, which lasted just a matter of seconds, took place near a clock tower in the city’s center that has been the site of numerous ISIS executions, an anti-ISIS activist group in Raqqa said. Three burned-out vehicles remained at the site on Friday, according to the group, which calls itself Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. “We know for a fact that the weapons system hit its intended target, and that the personnel who were on the receiving end of that weapons system were in fact killed,” Warren said, adding that the Pentagon is “reasonably certain” Emwazi perished in the strike.He was in a car with his “best friend,” who also died, Warren added. While the strike was “fairly routine,” Warren said it was significant because Emwazi, who has beheaded American and British hostages in gruesome videos, was an “ISIL [ISIS] celebrity” and a public face of the barbaric terrorist group. “There is a significant blow to [the group’s] prestige,” he said. Secretary of State John Kerry, appearing at a news conference in Tunis, Tunisia, issued the group a stern warning. “We are still assessing the results of this strike, but the terrorists associated with Daesh [ISIS] need to know this: Your days are numbered, and you will be defeated,” he said. “There is no future, no path forward for Daesh, which does not lead ultimately to its elimination, to its destruction.” British Prime Minister David Cameron staunchly defended the attack, saying it was “an act of self-defense” and “the right thing to do.” “We have been working with the United States literally around the clock to track him down,” Cameron said. “This was a combined effort, and the contribution of both our countries was essential. Emwazi is a barbaric murderer.” “He was ISIL’s lead executioner, and let us never forget that he killed many, many Muslims, too.” he added.White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama had been briefed on the attack, and the families of Emwazi’s victims had been notified before it was made public. “The fact that we were even able to conduct this airstrike, I think, is some indication that we are serious about applying pressure to ISIL leaders and to using that intelligence to do that,” he said. He called Emwazi, “a threat not just to the region but to countries around the world.” Clad in a black mask and wielding a knife, the ISIS executioner shocked the world when he beheaded American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in a pair of grisly videos that were spread through social media. He also executed British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, along with Japanese journalist Kenji Goto. His first video, titled “A Message to America,” was released in August 2014. In that video, Foley read a statement to the camera, then Emwazi took over, going on an anti-American rant before threatening to kill Sotloff. Emwazi, who got the nickname “John the Beatle” for his British accent, grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. He had been on a list of potential terror suspects since 2009, when he went to Tanzania, and later traveled to Syria in 2012, where he is believed to have joined up with ISIS.ISIS extremists are now on edge in Raqqa, a Syrian city where the buzz of drones hovering above has become commonplace. “There is great fear among them. So many senior ISIS members have been killed,” one activist told The Times of London. “They are trying their best to avoid it but they cannot. They are so surprised.” “ISIS has issued so many directives,” the source added. “They banned their people from using the main road and said only use the secondary roads. They ordered ISIS VIPs not to drive high-tech or luxury cars.” Warren said that the operation against Emwazi was one of several launched against the group’s leaders in recent months. He added that the US has killed one mid- to upper-level leader every two days since May. The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim organization in the UK, cheered Emwazi’s demise, calling him “evil.” “The killing of Mohammed Emwazi in Syria is a significant moment in the fight to get justice for David Haines, Alan Henning and all the victims of this evil man,” Mohammed Shafiq, the group’s executive director said, according to CNN. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities said they detained a man believed to be Aine Lesley Davis, 30, one Emwazi’s terrorist associates.