WASHINGTON, Oct 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump on Sunday said
that the elusive leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had
been killed, dying “like a dog” in a daring nighttime raid by US special
forces in northwest Syria.
Trump told the nation in a televised address from the White House that US
forces killed a “large number” of Islamic State (IS) group militants during
the raid, which culminated with Baghdadi cornered in a tunnel, where he
detonated a suicide vest.
“He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and
screaming all the way,” Trump said, adding that three of Baghdadi’s children
were also killed in the blast.
Trump said that the raid — involving eight helicopters flying more than
an hour from an undisclosed base — was carried out with cooperation from
Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iraq. He also thanked the Syrian Kurds “for a
certain support they were able to give us.”
Special forces “executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in
northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style,” he said.
Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, described the dramatic
message the president and his advisers received as they monitored the raid
from the White House Situation Room.
“The commander of the mission called and said, ‘100 percent confidence,
Jackpot'” — meaning Baghdadi was dead — O’Brien said on NBC. “That was
great news.”
At its height, IS controlled swaths of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared
caliphate, brutally imposing a puritanical version of Islam.
The group planned or inspired terrorism attacks across Europe, while using
social media to lure foreign volunteers.
It took years of war, during which IS became notorious for mass executions
and sickening hostage beheadings, before its final slice of territory in
Syria was seized this March.
Baghdadi’s death gives a big political boost to Trump as he faces an
impeachment inquiry and after his abrupt decision to withdraw a small
deployment of US forces from Syria raised fears that it would allow IS
remnants to regroup and leave Kurdish forces vulnerable to a Turkish
invasion.
Trump took a storm of criticism for the move, including from his
Republican allies. On Sunday, however, they had little but praise.
Several world leaders joined in the approbation, though some added words
of caution.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that it was “a
turning point in our joint fight against terrorism.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the raid “an important moment
in our fight against terror” but cautioned that the fight was “not yet over.”
An Iranian government spokesman, Ali Rabiei, tweeted that Baghdadi’s death
was not the end of IS terror “but just the end of a chapter.”
But Russia raised doubts. “The Defense Ministry does not have reliable
information… concerning the umpteenth ‘death’ of Baghdadi,” spokesman Igor
Konashenkov said in a statement.
Baghdadi’s death has been reported several times over the years.
Trump said there was no doubt, however, saying a DNA field test had
confirmed his identity. And Defense Secretary Mark Esper — who issued a
statement hailing “a great day for America and a great day for the world” —
told CNN the raiding team had both visual and DNA confirmation.
In Washington, Democrats commended the intelligence community, the
military professionals and the US partners involved but cautioned that the IS
threat was not over, particularly after Trump’s decision — since partially
reversed — to leave Syria.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that her chamber be briefed on the
raid and on Trump’s broader regional policies, adding that “the Russians, but
not top congressional leadership, were notified” in advance.
But Trump seemed to relish delivering the news to the public — after
hinting at it in a tweet late Saturday — spending nearly an hour at the
podium.
“This is the biggest there is,” he said.
– Scorched vehicle –
A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, had reported that
US helicopters dropped forces in an area of Syria’s Idlib province where
“groups linked to the Islamic State group” were present.
The monitoring group, based in Britain but with sources in Syria, said the
helicopters targeted a home and a car outside the village of Barisha.
The operation killed nine people, including an IS senior leader called Abu
Yamaan, as well as a child and two women, it said.
An AFP correspondent in Barisha said the targeted house was flattened,
leaving nothing but gray rubble.
A nearby resident who gave his name as Abdel Hameed said he rushed to the
site after hearing a ruckus in the night.
“The home had collapsed,” he said, and there were two bodies in the burned
hulk of a car.
An inhabitant of a nearby camp for the displaced said he had heard
helicopters and air strikes.
They “were flying very low, causing great panic among the people,” Ahmed
Hassawi said by phone.
Though other jihadists operate there, the area is nominally under the
control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The AFP correspondent said the Hayat group had cordoned off the area, and
bulldozers were already clearing the rubble.
– ‘Joint intelligence’-
Barisha is in a mountainous area less than three miles (five kilometers)
from Turkey and near a main border crossing.
Turkey, which has been waging an offensive against the Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria and with which the US partnered to combat IS,
“knew we were going in,” Trump said.
A senior Turkish official told AFP that “to the best of my knowledge, Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived at this location 48 hours prior to the raid.”
The commander-in-chief of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, said the operation came
after “joint intelligence work” with American forces.
Abdi said on Twitter that IS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir was meanwhile
“targeted in the village of Ain al-Baydah near Jarablus, in a coordinated
operation between SDF intelligence and the US army.”
A top Kurdish official, who declined to be named, said that Muhajir was
also killed.
– $25 million reward –
Baghdadi — an Iraqi native believed to be 48 years old — was rarely
seen.
After 2014 he disappeared from sight, only surfacing in a video in April
with an assault rifle at his side, as he encouraged followers to “take
revenge” after the group’s territorial defeat.
His reappearance was seen as a reassertion of his leadership of a group
that had spread as far as Asia and Africa and claimed several deadly attacks
in Europe.
The US State Department had posted a $25 million reward for information on
his whereabouts.