Baladi - Newspapers
The Daily Mail reported that US intelligence believes ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may not be dead as rumors suggest but is in hiding to rebuild the foundations of the Caliphate, according to The Washington Post.
The Washington post said despite the Baghdadi's unwillingness to be photographed and having only spoken in public on few occasions, US counter-terrorism officials believe Baghadi he is trying to come up with a strategy for the decreasing number of ISIS fighters.
Among these strategies is a rebuilding of the ideological foundations of the caliphate by developing a program to indoctrinate schoolchildren.
One officer, known as Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, said that Baghdadi gathered his top aides near the city of Deir al-Zour in Syria in mid-2017 for a meeting last year as Raqqa, the group's capital in Iraq, fell and its footing was being lost in Syria.
One self-proclaimed Islamic State operative, who contacted The Washington Post via an encrypted messaging service, said Baghdadi wants to prioritize indoctrinating children and recruits.
Nicholas Rasmussen, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Post that it may also buy Baghdadi time to prepare for the future in what looks to be the inevitable defeat of the caliphate.
Reporting by: Mary Kekatos for The Daily Mail