Coalition airstrike in Syria (archive)
Coalition airstrike in Syria (archive)Reuters

A senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader who recruited funds and fighters and procured weapons for the jihadists has been killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said Thursday, according to the AFP news agency.

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

His brother Ali, an ISIS 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 the Islamic State group by procuring and shipping weapons from Libya to Syria, where the jihadists have taken large swathes of territory.

He also aided with suicide attacks.

The Pentagon said his death was a significant blow to the Islamic State group.

"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.

AFP contributed to this report.