Trump said that the United States eliminated the leader of ISIS: they do not believe in Russia

“From a statement by US President Donald Trump, it became known that the leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), which was distinguished by extreme cruelty and temporarily established a brutal “caliphate” in the Middle East, was killed as a result of an operation by the American military,” writes with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was the number one target for the US military for three years.

The airstrike and ground raid by the US military took place in northeastern Syria about 5 km from the border with Turkey - close to an area that came under Russian military police patrols after the Turkish army invaded Syrian Kurdish-controlled territory.

Information about the death of al-Baghdadi is confirmed by sources in Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The Russian Defense Ministry expressed doubts about the success of the American operation.

"It was like a movie"

Donald Trump described in detail and colorfully the operation: US special forces landed near al-Baghdadi’s house in the village of Barisha and burst inside. When the whereabouts of al-Baghdadi were established, 11 children who were in the same house were taken out of the building. Baghdadi tried to escape along the underpass, but to no avail.

“We knew about numerous tunnels, all but one were blocked. He ended up blowing himself up along with his three children,” Trump said, adding that the jihadist’s body was mutilated beyond recognition as a result of the explosion, but subsequent examination confirmed his identity.

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“I watched the operation from the situation room, it was like a movie,” Trump said, adding that there were no casualties among the US Navy SEALs. “However, during the assault on al-Baghdadi’s house, many of his accomplices were killed.”

In his special statement, broadcast live, Trump listed the bloody crimes of the Islamic State and recalled the names of hostages from the United States, Britain, and Jordan who were brutally killed by jihadists. “Al-Baghdadi died like a dog, like a coward,” the American leader said. “The world has become much safer.”

He thanked Russia and Turkey for their cooperation and specified that Russia had opened an air corridor for the flight.

“Türkiye did not create problems. They could have started shooting at our people, but they didn’t,” this is how the US President answered the question about Turkey’s role in this operation.

“I spoke to the Russians before the operation and said we are coming,” the US President said. “They thanked me for the warning.”

Russia does not believe in success

The Russian Ministry of Defense commented on Trump’s words, saying that they don’t know about any assistance to the passage of American aircraft.

“The growing number of direct participants and countries allegedly taking part in this “operation,” each with completely contradictory details, raises reasonable questions and doubts about its reality and, moreover, about its success,” said Russian military department spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

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According to Konashenkov, on Saturday, October 26, no air strikes were recorded in the Idlib region, and the Ministry of Defense is not aware of any “alleged assistance to the flight of American aviation.”

A resident of the Syrian village of Barisha in Idlib province described the military operation that took place late Saturday evening. He said that at first there was continuous shelling from helicopters for 30 minutes. Then the special forces came. The bombing from helicopters was carried out on two houses - one of them was eventually razed to the ground.

Apparently, this was the operation of the American forces to destroy al-Baghdadi.

There is no independent confirmation of the death of the leader of the IG.

Türkiye says it coordinated with the US military ahead of their raid. “This is a good day for good people,” Ankara added.

The Kurdish SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) forces, which fought with IS for several years, claim to have participated in a joint intelligence mission with the Americans.

The commander of one of the jihadist groups claims that the bodies of three men and three women were found under the ruins of a house destroyed in Barish. However, the IG (a banned terrorist group) says nothing about whether their leader is alive.

According to Trump, special forces were in the house of the leader of the Islamic State (a group banned in Russia) for about two hours and took away important data. Answering questions from journalists, he clarified that, in particular, biomaterials were collected and sent for DNA testing.

"Don't congratulate Obama for killing bin Laden"

The US President did not fail to recall the previous “terrorist number 1 in the world” - Osama bin Laden, who after many years of hunting the CIA was killed by American Navy SEALs in Pakistan.

When in May 2011, President Barack Obama solemnly announced the death of the leader of the then largest terrorist network, Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that this success cannot be attributed to the president.

“Stop congratulating Obama for killing bin Laden. "SEALs killed bin Laden," he tweeted at the time.

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However, when announcing a similar successful operation by intelligence agencies and an elite special forces unit eight years later, President Donald Trump constantly spoke in the first person. “I hunted him for three years,” he said of the IS leader.

Journalists also noted that Trump was the first to name Russia in the list of thanks, and then he listed Turkey, Syria and even Iran. President Trump thanked his own military personnel who landed in Barish and completed the mission in battle.

As it turned out after questions from the press, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not notified of the impending operation (while Russian and Turkish officials received information, as Trump assures - although the Russian Department of Defense “had not heard anything about it”).

Donald Trump explained his decision not to inform one of the leaders of the US Congress and his political opponent, who is heading the presidential impeachment investigation, by saying that he did not want leaks: “Washington is like a leaky trough […]. Our people would have died on the spot.”

"Something very important happened"

The media reported the operation of the US military and that Baghdadi may have been killed on Sunday night, October 27.

Without providing further details, US President Donald Trump tweeted: “Something very important just happened.” He promised to make an important announcement in the morning.

Sources in Syria have confirmed to Iraqi intelligence information about the killing of al-Baghdadi. According to sources, Baghdadi was killed in Syrian Idlib.

About the role of Kurds

The Kurds, who until recently were US allies in the fight against the Islamic State (before the sudden withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria), reported that it was thanks to their intelligence that they managed to end al-Baghdadi.

“Historic and successful operation thanks to joint intelligence work with the United States of America,” General Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, wrote on Twitter.

According to Mazlum, joint preparations for the strike took five months.

“Our strong, effective actions have reaffirmed our strength and confidence in the fight against IS,” Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF alliance’s press office, tweeted in Arabic.

According to the British-based Syrian human rights monitoring center, helicopters were involved in the operation. As a result of the blow, according to their data, 9 people were killed.

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The purpose of the strike, according to the Syrian Monitoring Center, was a house and a car in the vicinity of the village of Barisha, located near the border with Turkey, where there were believed to be groups associated with the Islamic State.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense on its official Twitter account said that on the eve of the operation in Idlib, Turkish and US military coordinated the available information.

Not for the first time

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has not been seen since he spoke at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul on July 5, 2014, to declare a self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.

Since then, reports have repeatedly appeared that he was injured or killed.

In 2015, reports of his injury were confirmed.

In June 2017, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the death of the leader of the banned group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a result of Russian bombing in Raqqa, a Syrian city considered the capital of the “caliphate.” A Russian air strike hit a building where a meeting of IS leaders was taking place.

In April 2019, a person similar to Baghdadi appeared in the propaganda video of the IG, and in September the IG released an audio recording in which the voice of the leader of the group allegedly sounds.

Who is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

He is called the head of the Islamic State and the number one criminal, who has been hunted for more than one year.

In October 2011, the United States officially began calling him a “terrorist” and announced a $10 million reward for information about his whereabouts.

He has a reputation as an extremely organized and ruthless tactic.

His real name is Ibrahim Awad al-Badri. He was born in 1971 year near the city of Samarra in 125 km north of Baghdad.

According to some reports, he was a preacher in a mosque in Samarra during the invasion of coalition forces in 2003.

Some experts believe that he was already a jihadist during the reign of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

However, it is believed that he was radicalized during the four years he spent in the American filtration camp Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, where many al-Qaeda commanders were held.

They started talking about him in 2010 as one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that merged with the Islamic State.

For a long time it was believed that Abu Bakr was hiding somewhere on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

On September 16, ISIS distributed an 30-minute audio message allegedly recorded by Baghdadi, in which he said military operations were carried out daily and called on his supporters to release women detained in camps in Iraq and Syria on charges of having links to his group.

In the same message, Baghdadi also said that the United States and its puppets were defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the United States was embroiled in hostilities in Mali and Niger.

In June, the 2017 Russian ministry of defense saidthat al-Baghdadi was probably killed near the Syrian city of Raqqa as a result of a Russian air strike. The blow was inflicted on the building in which the meeting of the leaders of the group took place.

However, the US-led international anti-terrorism coalition was not able to confirm this message.

Does the death of al-Baghdadi end the IG?

Baghdadi was an important figure in the Islamic State, especially at that time when this organization was going to create a caliphate or its own Islamic state. Given that it is impossible to create a caliphate without the caliph, the IS represented al-Baghdadi as its recognized leader.

Despite the military defeat of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, supporters of the group still saw hope in Baghdadi for a revival of the caliphate. His statements attracted sympathizers, as noted by journalists and employees of international agencies who interviewed the wives and widows of IS fighters in the Al-Khol camp in Syria.

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Even before the start of the Turkish invasion in northern Syria, the military presence of the Islamic State was greatly reduced, but the group continued to function. Islamist sleeping cells made spontaneous attacks in the north-east of the country, often against civilians.

In the desert regions near Homs east of Palmyra, Islamists randomly attacked the positions of the Syrian army and Russian bases. In the northwest of Syria, many former IS fighters have joined other jihadist groups.

In Idlib province, such a group is Hurras al-Din, an al-Qaeda affiliate that, despite its militant activity, has a small number of members and is not particularly popular among the local population.

The IS is most active in the area of ​​the city of Deir ez-Zor in northeast Syria.

The units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDS), which include Kurdish forces, control this area, but do not have the support of the population, most of whom are Arabs who do not recognize either the Kurds, the Syrian army, or the units supported by Iran.

Local Arab tribes recently staged protests against the Syrian regime and Iran.

Before the Turkish invasion in northern Syria, clashes between Arab tribes in Deir ez-Zor and the Kurds regularly ended with the intensification of IS actions.

A few months ago, an Arab was shot dead at a Syrian Democratic Forces checkpoint. Over the next two weeks, sleeping IG cells, which received support from local Arabs, became more active in the area.

This scenario—tension followed by the rise of IS—continues, although attacks are few and far between and tend to be limited to roadside improvised explosive devices.

After the Turkish invasion, IS fighters tried to take advantage of the reduced presence of Kurdish forces in the Deir al-Zora region. However, no attempts were made to occupy the territories left by the Kurds.

Like the use of improvised bombs by militants, this indicates that the military capabilities of the Islamic State are substantially weakened.

Jihadists are also constrained by the fact that the forces of the international coalition, which, according to Trump, protect the oil fields, are still stationed in this area.

Probably, the IS will try to use the death of al-Baghdadi to rally supporters and call them to revenge. However, the days when the Caliphate supporters fought to the last drop of blood, apparently, have passed.

The leader of the IS in Syria, Abu Ayman al-Iraqi himself went to the front line, accompanied by only six fighters who left him at the time of the collision with the Kurds from the SDS. In this battle, he died.

Previously, the IS did not have to send its commanders to the forefront.

Likely, the IS will now elect al-Baghdadi's successor, but much more important for the organization is the development of the situation in the north-west and north-east of Syria.

Al-Baghdadi was killed in the province of Idlib, where the IS leader tried to revive the group.

Jihadists from the Hurras al-Din group in Idlib province, which broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to remain loyal to al-Qaeda, likely formed al-Baghdadi's base.

Although fighters from both groups have fought together against the Syrian army, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists have even tried to establish their administration in the area, there is massive local resistance in Idlib that makes an IS resurgence in the province unlikely.

As for the northeast, the Syrian army is expanding its presence in this area, but its capabilities are limited due to a lack of military personnel and the lack of necessary equipment and military equipment, but also because the army has to crush the uprisings in the city of Dara in the south of the country , and also prepare for the offensive in Idlib.

The Kurds still maintain control over the northeastern regions, although recently they have been operating under the Syrian flag after the Syrian army entered the region.

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Only if the forces of the international coalition leave Deir ez-Zor, IS will be able to try to seize these territories in alliance with local Arabs. However, President Trump said the coalition is not going to give up the protection of oil fields.

The situation in the northeast shows that even if the international coalition considers the death of al-Baghdadi a major victory, the main source of revival of the influence of jihadists from the Islamic State is local tensions between the parties to the conflict, and only the presence of the forces of the international coalition can prevent such a revival.

US military still in Syria

The news of a US military operation using aircraft is contrary to the US withdrawal from northern Syria.

“This is not our border,” President Trump said, explaining the decision to withdraw troops located on the border between Turkey and Syria. “It’s just sand here.”

However, even now, after the successful operation to eliminate the main extremist, the US president considers it correct to break the agreement with the Kurds and withdraw the US military from the border zone. Many observers (and even Republicans in Congress) call this step a betrayal of an ally.

“You know who really liked our military presence there? Russia and China. Russia really liked the fact that we were fighting ISIS - this is next to Russia! And it’s 8 miles from us,” Trump told reporters on October 27. “We had to get out of there.”

At the same time, Trump also mentioned the importance of the region for the United States in connection with oil: “Of course, oil is needed, firstly, by the Kurds - they can live off it. Well, we also need a little oil.”

Two weeks ago, Trump announced a decision to withdraw American troops from northeast Syria. Immediately after this, Turkey launched an offensive on the territory of the Kurds, who until the last were US allies in the fight against jihadists from the Islamic State. Turkey believes that the Kurds are connected with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been waging an armed struggle for independence for more than 30 years and which the Turks call terrorist.

On October 17, Ankara and Washington agreed on a five-day ceasefire in the Turkish operation to allow the Kurds to leave the territory of the fighting, after which the Russian and Turkish presidents agreed on a further plan of action.

Trump's decision to withdraw troops was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, and the Kurds called Trump's move a "stab in the back."

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported a resolution condemning Trump's decision to withdraw the US military from Syria. The resolution was supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

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