Without giving a name, US President, Donald Trump says the individual expected to replace the slain leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Without giving a name, US President, Donald Trump says the individual expected to replace the slain leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been “terminated”.
Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!” Trump tweeted.
Trump did not identify the person or give more detail on how the individual was killed.
Also, the US confirmed the killing of Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, ISIL spokesman and a high-ranking figure within the group.
Since the operation, world leaders and regional analysts have warned that even with al-Baghdadi’s death, ISIL would remain a threat worldwide.
Under al-Baghdadi’s command, ISIL became one of the most brutal armed groups in modern history and, at its peak, its self-declared caliphate covered territory across Iraq and Syria roughly equivalent to the size of the UK.
It remains unclear who will take over the command. ISIL social media channels have not confirmed Trump’s Sunday announcement, nor alluded to potential successors. Speculation has centred on Abdullah Qardash – a former Iraqi military officer jailed with al-Baghdadi in the US-run Iraqi prison of Camp Bucca.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Turkey’s Reyhanli on the border with Syria earlier this week, referred to a months-old statement attributed to the ISIL propaganda arm Amaq but never officially adopted by the group that said Qardash had been selected as the leader of even before Trump declared al-Baghdadi dead.
But some analysts have said the statement on Qardash’s promotion was fake. Citing Iraqi intelligence sources, al-Hashemi said that Qardash had been dead since 2017.
