Syria Kurds expect IS revenge attacks after Baghdadi death
Trump thanks 'Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq' for Baghdadi raid help
US president Donald Trump announces the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, jihadist supremo who oversaw the bloodstained rise and ultimate collapse of his Islamic State group's "caliphate" while keeping such a low profile that he was nicknamed "The Ghost".
 |
| Barisha strikes-Footage from the morning after matches |
Trump claims Baghdadi died whimpering and screaming after running into a tunnel, chased by dogs. Claims he dragged 3 of his young children with him.
No U.S. personnel died during the operation but that other militants were killed. Trump said.
US president described what he called a "dangerous and daring" nighttime operation by U.S. Special Operations forces in northwest Syria, involving a series of firefights and culminating in what he said was a retreat by Baghdadi into a tunnel. There Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of the six children he was believed to have.
 |
| Baghdadi |
"The operation had been in the works for at least several weeks, saying that earlier plans to strike had been postponed. Eight helicopters ferried in American troops from an unspecified location in what he described as a risky, roughly hour-long flight."
Trump thanks 'Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq' for Baghdadi raid help.
Baghdadi is believed to have detonated a suicide vest during a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official.
Baghdadi is believed to have detonated a suicide vest during a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official.
Iraqi TV: Iraqi intelligence agencies helped in determine ISIS leader Baghdadi whereabouts; Will broadcast video of the operation 'soon'.
SDF spox Redur Khelil speaks at a press conference in Heseke. He says the operation to kill Baghdadi was achieved using information from both the SDF and American intelligence services. "This operation was delayed by a month due to the Turkish invasion of North East Syria."
Mazloum Abdi of SDF also confirmed that five months ago, intelligence work started on the ground and a thorough prosecution until a joint operation killed terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We thank everyone who contributed to this great work.
A US official tells CNN that Turkey played no role in assisting the operation though the operation was deconflicted with the Turkish military due to its proximity to Turkey's border. The official also said the Kurdish-led SDF did provide some intelligence support to the operation.
 |
| Picture of the president Trump and admin officials watching the raid live from the situation room last night |
Syria Kurds are expecting IS revenge attacks after Baghdadi death as they playe major role in the intelligent works that led to the operations that eventually terminated the brutal islamic leader.
Americans called Russians on "de-confliction" line to warn of pending U.S. military assault on Baghdadi compound in NW Syria. No de-confliction with Turkey who "did not help in any way," U.S. defense official says.
But Russian Ministry of Defense on Baghdadi death: we have no information about operation, our radars have not detected any airstrikes in Idlib over last days, doubts operation success or even fact of operation.
Russian state-run RIA news agency is quoting the country’s ministry of defence saying it was not aware that they had provided any assistance to the US in the operation that targeted Baghdadi.
“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to the flying of US aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” major-general Igor Konashenkov is quoted as saying.
Turkish Ministry of Defense says Information exchange and coordination was made between the military authorities prior to the operation carried out by the US to Idlib last night.
Russian state-run RIA news agency is quoting the country’s ministry of defence saying it was not aware that they had provided any assistance to the US in the operation that targeted Baghdadi.
“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to the flying of US aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” major-general Igor Konashenkov is quoted as saying.
Turkish Ministry of Defense says Information exchange and coordination was made between the military authorities prior to the operation carried out by the US to Idlib last night.
Senior Turkish official tells @Reuters: "to the best of my knowledge, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived at location of U.S. operation 48 hours prior to the raid."
According to the reports several helicopters fly over the Barisha area in the northern countryside of Idlib on the Turkish-Syrian border and target the area with heavy machine guns, amid fire from anti-aircraft fire to counter these helicopters.
Local sources from Barisha claimed that helicopters conducted an operation to Hurras-ad Deen military HQ between Qalb Loze and Barisha.
Security forces operating in Barisha area of Idlib countryside implement a security cordon on the area and prevent entry and exit to and from the area
After proclaiming himself caliph in 2014, Baghdadi held sway over seven million people across swathes of Syria and Iraq, where IS implemented its brutal version of Islamic law.
His infamous declaration from the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's Mosul unleashed a wave of violence that has since killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions more and drawn world powers into the region's conflicts.
Rarely seen even when IS was at the peak of its power, the Iraqi native -- believed to be around 48 years old -- virtually vanished as IS's territory shrank and it was reduced to a disparate network of jihadist sleeper cells.
Baghdadi was already rumoured to have been wounded or killed several times before President Donald Trump announced Sunday he had "died like a dog" in a US raid in Syria, detonating his own suicide vest.
- 'Astute strategist' -
Baghdadi died near a small town in rural northwest Syria, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from his home region of Samarra in western Iraq.
Born Ibrahim Awad al-Badri in 1971, the passionate football fan did not have good enough grades for law school or eyesight for an army career, so he moved to Baghdad to study Islam.
After US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, he founded his own insurgent organisation but it never carried out major attacks.
When he was arrested and held in a US detention facility in southern Iraq in February 2004, he was still very much a second- or third-tier jihadist.
But it was Camp Bucca -- later dubbed "the University of Jihad" -- where Baghdadi came of age as a jihadist.
"People there realised that this nobody, this shy guy was an astute strategist," said Sofia Amara, author of a 2017 documentary that unveiled exclusive documents on Baghdadi.
He was released at the end of 2004 for lack of evidence, then re-arrested and let go twice because security forces did not know who he was.
In 2005, the father of five pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the brutal leader of Iraq's Al-Qaeda franchise.
Zarqawi was killed by an American drone strike in 2006, and after his successor was also eliminated, Baghdadi took the helm in 2010.
He revived the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), expanded into Syria in 2013 and declared independence from Al-Qaeda.
In the following years, Baghdadi's group captured swathes of territory, set up a brutal system of government, and inspired thousands to join the "caliphate" from abroad.
- International manhunt -
The elusive Baghdadi was the subject of an international manhunt, and the US placed a $25 million bounty on his head.
Maintaining a low profile -- in contrast to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- helped him survive for years.
After declaring the "caliphate," he only issued audio recordings through his group's powerful online propaganda outlet.
But after his group lost its last patch of territory in Syria's eastern Baghouz, a man believed to be Baghdadi surfaced in a rare video in April.
With a wiry grey and red beard and an assault rifle at his side, he encouraged followers to "take revenge" for IS's losses.
"God ordered us to wage 'jihad.' He did not order us to win," he said.
It was unclear where the video was filmed and theories swirled over where he was hiding, with many suspecting he was laying low in Syria's vast Badia desert.
The Badia stretches from the eastern border with Iraq to the sweeping province of Homs, with parts conjoining with the province of Idlib where Baghdadi was ultimately killed.
Baghdadi was raised in a family divided between a religious clan and officers loyal to late dictator Saddam Hussein's secular Baath party.
Years later, his jihadist group incorporated ex-Baathists, capitalising on the bitterness many officers felt after the American move to dissolve the Iraqi army in 2003.
That gave his leadership the military legitimacy he had lacked and formed a solid backbone of what was to become IS, combining extreme religious propaganda with ferocious guerrilla efficiency.
Uncharismatic and an average orator, Baghdadi was described by his repudiated ex-wife Saja al-Dulaimi, who now lives in Lebanon, as a "normal family man" who was good with children.
He is thought to have had three wives in total; Iraqi Asma al-Kubaysi, Syrian Isra al-Qaysi and another spouse, more recently, from the Gulf.
He has been accused of repeatedly raping girls and women he kept as "sex slaves", including a pre-teen Yazidi girl and US aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was subsequently killed.
With Additional reporting from AFP
His infamous declaration from the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's Mosul unleashed a wave of violence that has since killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions more and drawn world powers into the region's conflicts.
Rarely seen even when IS was at the peak of its power, the Iraqi native -- believed to be around 48 years old -- virtually vanished as IS's territory shrank and it was reduced to a disparate network of jihadist sleeper cells.
Baghdadi was already rumoured to have been wounded or killed several times before President Donald Trump announced Sunday he had "died like a dog" in a US raid in Syria, detonating his own suicide vest.
- 'Astute strategist' -
Baghdadi died near a small town in rural northwest Syria, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from his home region of Samarra in western Iraq.
Born Ibrahim Awad al-Badri in 1971, the passionate football fan did not have good enough grades for law school or eyesight for an army career, so he moved to Baghdad to study Islam.
After US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, he founded his own insurgent organisation but it never carried out major attacks.
When he was arrested and held in a US detention facility in southern Iraq in February 2004, he was still very much a second- or third-tier jihadist.
But it was Camp Bucca -- later dubbed "the University of Jihad" -- where Baghdadi came of age as a jihadist.
"People there realised that this nobody, this shy guy was an astute strategist," said Sofia Amara, author of a 2017 documentary that unveiled exclusive documents on Baghdadi.
He was released at the end of 2004 for lack of evidence, then re-arrested and let go twice because security forces did not know who he was.
In 2005, the father of five pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the brutal leader of Iraq's Al-Qaeda franchise.
Zarqawi was killed by an American drone strike in 2006, and after his successor was also eliminated, Baghdadi took the helm in 2010.
He revived the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), expanded into Syria in 2013 and declared independence from Al-Qaeda.
In the following years, Baghdadi's group captured swathes of territory, set up a brutal system of government, and inspired thousands to join the "caliphate" from abroad.
- International manhunt -
The elusive Baghdadi was the subject of an international manhunt, and the US placed a $25 million bounty on his head.
Maintaining a low profile -- in contrast to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- helped him survive for years.
After declaring the "caliphate," he only issued audio recordings through his group's powerful online propaganda outlet.
But after his group lost its last patch of territory in Syria's eastern Baghouz, a man believed to be Baghdadi surfaced in a rare video in April.
With a wiry grey and red beard and an assault rifle at his side, he encouraged followers to "take revenge" for IS's losses.
"God ordered us to wage 'jihad.' He did not order us to win," he said.
It was unclear where the video was filmed and theories swirled over where he was hiding, with many suspecting he was laying low in Syria's vast Badia desert.
The Badia stretches from the eastern border with Iraq to the sweeping province of Homs, with parts conjoining with the province of Idlib where Baghdadi was ultimately killed.
Baghdadi was raised in a family divided between a religious clan and officers loyal to late dictator Saddam Hussein's secular Baath party.
Years later, his jihadist group incorporated ex-Baathists, capitalising on the bitterness many officers felt after the American move to dissolve the Iraqi army in 2003.
That gave his leadership the military legitimacy he had lacked and formed a solid backbone of what was to become IS, combining extreme religious propaganda with ferocious guerrilla efficiency.
Uncharismatic and an average orator, Baghdadi was described by his repudiated ex-wife Saja al-Dulaimi, who now lives in Lebanon, as a "normal family man" who was good with children.
He is thought to have had three wives in total; Iraqi Asma al-Kubaysi, Syrian Isra al-Qaysi and another spouse, more recently, from the Gulf.
He has been accused of repeatedly raping girls and women he kept as "sex slaves", including a pre-teen Yazidi girl and US aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was subsequently killed.
With Additional reporting from AFP
No comments