ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad Killed In Syria By US Forces

[Guest]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) 

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was believed to have been killed in a U.S. military operation in Syria, sources in Syria, Iraq and Iran said on Sunday, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to make a “major statement” at the White House.  A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier told Reuters Baghdadi was targeted in the overnight raid but was unable to say whether the operation was successful.

A commander of one of the militant factions in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib said Baghdadi was believed to have been killed in a raid after midnight on Saturday involving helicopters, warplanes and a ground clash in the village of Brisha near the Turkish border. Two Iraqi security sources and two Iranian officials said they had received confirmation from inside Syria that Baghdadi had been killed. “Iran was informed about Baghdadi’s death by Syrian officials who got it from the field,” one of the officials said.

Newsweek, which first reported the news, said it had been told by a U.S. Army official briefed on the raid that Baghdadi was dead. It said the operation was carried out by special operations forces after receiving actionable intelligence. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley announced late on Saturday that Trump would make a “major statement” at 9 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) on Sunday. Gidley gave no further details as to the topic of Trump’s statement.

The president gave an indication that something was afoot earlier on Saturday night when he tweeted without explanation, “Something very big has just happened!” Trump has faced withering criticism from both Republicans and Democrats alike for his U.S. troop withdrawal from northeastern Syria, which permitted Turkey to attack America’s Kurdish allies. Many critics of Trump’s Syria pullout have expressed worries that it would lead the Islamic State militancy to regain strength and pose a threat to U.S. interests. An announcement about Baghdadi’s death could help blunt those concerns. For days, U.S. officials had feared that Islamic State would seek to capitalize on the upheaval in Syria. But they also saw a potential opportunity, in which Islamic State leaders might break from more secretive routines to communicate with operatives, potentially creating a chance for the United States and its allies to detect them.

Baghdadi was long thought to hiding somewhere along the Iraq-Syria border. He has led the group since 2010, when it was still an underground al Qaeda offshoot in Iraq. On Sept. 16, Islamic State’s media network issued a 30-minute audio message purporting to come from Baghdadi, in which he said operations were taking place daily and called on supporters to free women jailed in camps in Iraq and Syria over their alleged links to his group.

In the audio message, Baghdadi also said the United States and its proxies had been defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the United States had been “dragged” into Mali and Niger. At the height of its power Islamic State ruled over millions of people in territory running from northern Syria through towns and villages along the Tigris and Euphrates valleys to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. But the fall in 2017 of Mosul and Raqqa, its strongholds in Iraq and Syria respectively, stripped Baghdadi, an Iraqi, of the trappings of a caliph and turned him into a fugitive thought to be moving along the desert border between Iraq and Syria. U.S. air strikes killed most of his top lieutenants, and before Islamic State published a video message of Baghdadi in April there had been conflicting reports over whether he was alive. Despite losing its last significant territory, Islamic State is believed to have sleeper cells around the world, and some fighters operate from the shadows in Syria’s desert and Iraq’s cities.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Guest

[El Nikko + 2,145]

Isn't this the third time he's been killed?

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

28 minutes ago, DayTrader said:

Baghdadi was believed to have been killed in a raid after midnight on Saturday

In America we call that the Saturday Night Special. 

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

13 minutes ago, El Nikko said:

Isn't this the third time he's been killed?

Nah, those are different al-Baghdadi guys.  Back in the old days, the troops used to wear these T-shirts with the screen-printing "Kill them all and let God sort them out."   I doubt the approach has changed all that much.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Jan van Eck

[James Regan + 1,776]

Great ploy to again try and get the BOOYAHs behind him, like Osamas son killed last month really made the news. I call BS as well as OBL, where was the body? Then Hussein died (Hung) they had to show the proof to the people or it wouldn't be believed so why not show OBLs body also to the non muslims (didn't we deserve proof), to respect his muslim faith. BS Obama and Hillary were feeding BS to the world.

Also ISIS is not fuelled by leaders, its the west that puts these figures on pedestals and suddenly we have someone to blame and someone to send attacks of drones etc costing millions. Do we believe that OBL was commanding ISIS in Syria from his playstation in Pakistan? You can't target or assassinate an ideology but false profits / soft targets definitely. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by James Regan

[James Regan + 1,776]

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - Whats in a name.

Son of Bakr from Bagdad- Its a nickname

John Smiths son from Cleethorpes- UK Equivalent

Rufus The Plougman from Pennsylvania's boy -Amish Version.

Bubba son of Clitas from Busted Shovel Texas - and so on.........

Edited October 27, 2019 by James Regan

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

2 hours ago, El Nikko said:

Isn't this the third time he's been killed?

Nah, more like two and a half times...

[Guest]

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will not mean the end of the group and its ideology, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei tweeted.

“The killing of Baghdadi will not end Daesh (the Islamic State) and its ideology ... which was created and flourished with the help of regional petrodollars,” Rabiei tweeted, in a clear reference to Tehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was “not a big deal”, Iran’s information minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted on Sunday, accusing Iran’s longtime foe of creating Islamic State.

“Not a big deal. You just killed your creature,” Azari-Jahromi tweeted.

I'm shocked. Truly shocked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iran uses Twitter? 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Guest

[El Nikko + 2,145]

30 minutes ago, DayTrader said:

Iran uses Twitter? 

They do and to be fair they have a sort of point.

Here's Clinton talking about ISIS and who supported them. I think Qatar was really funding/supporting ISIS (with possible help from Turkey) where as Saudi were more likely funding Al-Nusra which used to be AQ.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

“...and another one bites the dust.”

- Freddy Mercury