BALADI NEWS
US special troops have conducted special operation on Saturday in North Syria near Turkish border, which resulted in the deaths of Islamic State militant group (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and spokesperson Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir.
But the organization has already designated a successor, Newsweek magazine writes.
Abdullah Qardash, sometimes spelled Karshesh and also known as Hajji Abdullah al-Afari, was said to have been nominated by Baghdadi in August to run the group's "Muslim affairs" in a widely-circulated statement attributed to ISIS' official Amaq news outlet, but never publicly endorsed by the group. Though little is known about the former Iraqi military officer who once served under late leader Saddam Hussein, one regional intelligence official asking not to be identified by name or nation told Newsweek that Qardash would have taken over Baghdadi's role—though it had lost much of its significance by the time of his demise.
Baghdadi, who died after detonating a suicide vest following a Delta Team operation, built ISIS' self-styled caliphate out of Al-Qaeda's Iraqi branch, but the official said that the influential hard-line cleric's role had become largely symbolic.
"Baghdadi was a figurehead. He was not involved in operations or day-to-day," the official told Newsweek. "All Baghdadi did was say yes or no—no planning."
Details are still emerging as to what transpired at Baghdadi's compound in Barisha village and why the ISIS chief was hiding out deep in territory more commonly associated with rival jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by former Baghdadi associate Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who went on to built Al-Qaeda's Syria branch, Nusra Front. Both men's forces, however, have faced consecutive defeats, severely limiting their freedom of movement across two nations they played key roles in destabilizing.
While President Donald Trump was the first world leader to explicitly claim the death of Baghdadi, various U.S. and international officials have offered conflicting reports as to his fate and whereabouts in recent years, many times placing him in the Jazeera region in northeastern Syria and eastern Iraq and claiming he had been left unable to lead ISIS due to wounds sustained in an airstrike.
When Baghdadi was seen in a video released in April—his first appearance since making his sole public speech at Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque—there were no visible signs of injury. Even with his demise, however, his group's infamous capacity to both order and inspire global bloodshed may not be entirely degraded.
Source: Newsweek.