Washington D.C., June 24: The US Department of State's Rewards for Justice Program has increased the bounty - now up to USD10 million -- for information leading to the identification or location of ISIS's new leader Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahma al-Mawla. This represents a doubling of the previous reward of up to USD 5 million announced in August 2019.

Al-Mawla -- also known as Hajji Abdallah and Abu-'Umar al-Turkmani -- succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the leader of ISIS following Baghdadi's death during a US military operation in October 2019. Al-Mawla helped drive and justify the abduction, slaughter, and trafficking of members of Yazidi religious minority groups in northwest Iraq, and he oversees the group's global operations.

Born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1976, al-Mawla was a religious scholar in ISIS's predecessor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq, and steadily rose through the ranks of ISIS to become the deputy emir. On March 18, 2020, the Department of State designated al-Mawla, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

As a result of this designation, US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with al-Mawla, and al-Mawla's property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction will be blocked. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide material support or resources to ISIS.

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