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Islamic State (ISIS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly appears for the first time in five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location, April 30, 2019. Photo: Al-Furqan / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday in a White House statement that Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a US special operations mission in northwest Syria.
US special forces brought the “world’s number one terrorist to justice”, Trump said, claiming Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being cornered “whimpering” in a tunnel with three of his children.
“Baghdadi did not die like a hero but a dog whimpering and screaming... he died like a coward,” Trump said.
“Our dogs chased him down a dead end tunnel, he took three of his young children with him and he ignited his waist bomb.”
“His body was mutilated by the blast. The tunnel had caved in on it in addition. But test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification. It was him.”
“The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.”
Several of Baghdadi's followers were also killed in the “dangerous and daring nighttime raid”, the US president said.
“There were two women, both wives, both wearing vests ... they were dead but did not detonated their vests,” he said.
No US personnel were lost in the operation and 11 children were removed from the scene without harm, Trump said.
Asked where the operation was deployed from, Trump said: “I’d rather not say, we landed in a friendly port, in a friendly country.” Russia was pre-warned about the operation, but the US did not disclose the target, he added.
“The Kurds gave us some information that turned out to be helpful,” he added.
Confirming the news on Sunday afternoon, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Kobani Abdi tweeted: “We have been implementing accurate pursuit and intelligence work on the ground for five months until we got the terrorist Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi in a joint operation. We thank everyone who contributed in this great duty.”
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the operation took place in a northwestern village named Barisha in Syria's Idlib close to the border with Turkey.
“US helicopters dropped fighters on the ground before clashes broke out with jihadists,” the war monitor said.
In an earlier tweet on Sunday morning, SDF commander Abdi said a “successful” and “historic” operation had taken place as a result of “joint intelligence work” between the SDF and the US.
SDF press spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted: “Successful and effective operation by our forces is yet another proof of SDF's anti-terror capability. We continue to work with our partners in the global @coalition in the fight against ISIS terrorism. #DefeatDaesh.”
According to the unnamed US official who spoke to Newsweek, Turkey was not notified about the operation in advance.
Turkey’s defense ministry contradicted this claim, however, saying there had in fact been “information exchange and coordination” between the US and Turkey.
“Prior to the US Operation in Idlib Province of Syria last night, information exchange and coordination between the military authorities of both countries took place,” the ministry said in a tweet.
Idlib News Network, media affiliated with the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which controls the province, has posted several videos from the scene of the alleged assault via messaging app Telegram.
Quoting an unnamed HTS official, the network said a person killed in Barsha was indeed Baghdadi and his deputy Abu Saeed al-Iraqi, who is from Tel Afar, Iraq.
An unnamed Iraqi intelligence official told Iraq’s state-owned Iraqi News Agency that Baghdadi and other senior Iraqi members of ISIS had been killed in Idlib.
Several foreign leaders have responded to the news of al-Baghadi's death. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu heralded the operation as "an important milestone..but the campaign [against terror] is still ahead of us", while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that while it is an "important moment in our fight against terror...the evil of Daesh is not yet over," using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
There have been several reports of Baghdadi’s death or injury in recent years. The elusive leader’s only known public appearance dates to July 2014 when he proclaimed a cross-border caliphate from the pulpit of a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
He has since appeared in short video and audio statements at unknown locations. The US had put out a $25 million reward for information on his whereabouts
US President Donald Trump said “something very big has just happened” in a tweet on Saturday evening (US time).
Trump’s tweet added further credence to rumors circulating that Baghdadi had been killed.
Idlib and other parts of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia remain under the control of HTS, led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate.
Forces of the Russian-backed Syrian regime have been attacking areas around the city of Idlib and conducting airstrikes around the province as part of an ongoing operation to retake the territory.
At the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly the size of Great Britain, spread across Iraq and Syria. The group was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March 2019.
This is a developing story…
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