| 48 Hour Rule, of course, but here is a small ulululululu in anticipation. |
 [Townhall] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is believed to have been killed or captured in a top-secret operation, according to Newsweek.
(Via Newsweek)
The United States military has conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), Newsweek has learned. Donald Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place.
Amid reports Saturday of U.S. military helicopters over Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of the top-secret operation in the last bastion of the country's Islamist-dominated opposition, a faction that has clashed with ISIS in recent years. A U.S. Army source briefed on the results of the operation told Newsweek that Baghdadi was killed in the raid. And the Defense Department told the White House they have "high confidence" that the high-value target killed was Baghdadi but further verification is pending."
The president will make a statement on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. eastern time, according to NBC News.
Newsweek on the kill.
UPDATES:
Well, damn. Just ignore the whole operation, then. Right to left: Army, Marines, Kushner ,Trump, Pence, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, if I'm not mistaken.
The normal progression in the West is left to right, Fred. Noted for those like me who were confused by going straight to the names.
"Join the Army. See the world. Meet new people. Kill them. Break their shit."
 CNN’s Tapper Complains Trump ISIS Announcement Being ’20 Minutes Late’
Politico:
Dana Shell Smith, a former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, warned that being so descriptive could backfire by stoking more anger toward the United States.She pointed out that former President Barack Obama was far more careful in describing al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden's killing. The Obama administration even pointed out that it gave bin Laden's body an Islamic funeral ritual before slipping it into the ocean.
"It was important for our relationships in the region and safety of our military and diplomats," the former ambassador wrote on Twitter. "It’s how America rolls. With honor. We don’t delight in death like the terrorists do."
Bednarek said the president’s extended remarks, in which he also repeatedly took credit for the raid and the defeat of ISIS, struck him as “a bit disquieting."
"But that is his penchant to do.”
NBC Decries Trump Taking ‘Victory Lap’ After Killing ISIS Leader
During NBC’s Sunday Today, chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson noted that “Trump has repeatedly celebrated what he calls the defeat of ISIS,” but recalled, “He has not talked much personally about al-Baghdadi by name.” The tone and juxtaposition of those points were meant to suggest she was catching Trump in a contradiction.
“The President’s speech this morning will be a commander-in-chief moment for him, but consider the backdrop here, Willie. It comes at a time when critics have really raise questions about his policy in Syria,” she cautioned, to dump some cold water on the President.
Host Willie Geist then brought on couple leftist partisans in Obama-era CIA official Jeremy Bash and NBC political director Chuck Todd.
Bash recognized that al-Baghdadi was an important person to eliminate, but doubted if Trump’s decision would be of any military importance given his decision to leave Syria...
Russia doubts Trump’s claim about killing Baghdadi
 There’s no credible data to prove a successful American raid took place against Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. The US coalition didn’t even carry out any airstrikes in Idlib recently.
Earlier, Trump made a rare Sunday address from the White House informing the world that al-Baghdadi was eliminated in northwest Syria in a “daring nighttime raid” with the involvement of US special forces, planes, helicopters and drones. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader met his end “crying and screaming” in the face of the Americans’ might, he said.
But the Russian Defense Ministry insisted that “there were legitimate questions and doubts about the very fact [of the US operation] and, especially, its success.”
Moscow pointed out that it recorded no US coalition airstrikes in the Idlib area in northwest Syria on Saturday when the raid was held.
It also rejected Trump’s claims that Russian forces opened up the airspace under its control in Syria to American planes to facilitate the operation against the IS leader.
The ministry questioned the very possibility of al-Baghdadi’s presence in Idlib as the area is held by Al-Qaeda offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra, who have always been mortal enemies of Islamic State.
| Moscow noted that Islamic State was crushed in Syria in early 2018 in a joint effort by the government in Damascus and the Russian forces |
Moscow noted that Islamic State was crushed in Syria in early 2018 in a joint effort by the government in Damascus and the Russian forces, meaning that yet another report of al-Baghdadi’s demise “bears no effect on the operational situation in Syria or on the actions of the remaining terrorists in Idlib.”
French Defense Minister Florence Parly also questioned the significance of the claimed US achievement, pointing out that the raid only marked “an early retirement for a terrorist [al-Baghdadi], but not for his organization.”
'Not a Big Deal' - Iranian Minister
 Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi on Sunday said that the elimination of Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the leader of the Daesh* terrorist organisation by the US air force was not "a big deal" and that Washington had simply destroyed its own "creature."
"Not a big deal! You just killed your creature," Jahromi posted on Twitter in response to Trump's tweet reading "Something very big has just happened!"
... and yet...
Syria villagers tell of quiet neighbour
 In the middle of the night amid the olive trees of northwest Syria, Abu Ahmad heard soldiers "speaking a foreign language" attack the home next door.
The helicopters reportedly targeted a home and a car outside the village of Barisha. The house targeted in the raid is located near an olive grove and tents of displaced Syrians.
The 55-year-old said he had repeatedly tried and failed to befriend his discreet neighbour in the village of Barisha in Idlib province.
But now, after President Donald Trump said Sunday a US special operation killed jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the village, Abu Ahmad was left wondering about who his neighbour was harbouring.
 "We have shared nothing with this man except greetings," Abu Ahmad said of his mysterious neighbour, who claimed to be a merchant from the province of Aleppo.
"He wuz a quiet man, kept to himself..."
Around midnight, US helicopters dropped forces in Barisha where groups linked to the Islamic State group were present, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The helicopters targeted a home and a car outside the village of Barisha, said the war monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information.
The operation killed nine people, including Baghdadi, Trump said Sunday.
It occurred about five kilometres (three miles) from the Turkish frontier and close to one of the main border crossings.
Abu Ahmad was a few dozen metres away, he said, when he saw an "attacking force", with gunfire ringing out as warplanes whooshed overhead.
Someone speaking in Arabic called on his neighbour -- apparently named Abu Mohammad -- to hand himself over, before the forces moved in.
The operation lasted for nearly three hours, he said.
Another resident in the area who gave his name as Abdel Hameed said he rushed to the scene of the attack after he heard helicopters, gunfire and explosions.
Strikes hit the house and a vehicle that was coincidently passing through the area at the time of the attack, he said.
There were six unidentified bodies inside the house and two others inside the vehicle, the 23-year-old said.
The body of the man known as Abu Mohammad was not left among the corpses, he was told by other residents.
"Some residents say he was taken along with another person," he told AFP.
FLATTENED SEA OF RUBBLE
Under a clear blue sky on Sunday morning, the targeted house was completely flattened into light grey rubble, an AFP correspondent said.
The area was cordoned off by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist alliance that dominates most of Idlib led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Journalists were briefly allowed to film at the site.
The frame of a motorcycle lay in the rubble, its front wheel burned down to the spokes and what remained of electrical wires entangled across its length.
Covered in dust, a pink item of clothing was tangled in a branch amid the ruins.
Separated from the scene of the raid by a row of olive trees, two houses were visible nearby.
| "We used to invite him to our house but he would never come," said Abu Ahmad, who has been living in Barisha for the past two years. |
Standing outside the ruined house, Abu Ahmad said his neighbour used to leave early in the morning and return late at night.
"We used to invite him to our house but he would never come," said Abu Ahmad, who has been living in Barisha for the past two years.
He never saw any women or children at the house, he said, and never got familiar with the inhabitants.
"Even during holidays, we tried to build a relationship but it didn't work."
Baghdadi killing “vengeance” for Yezidi women: SDF
The killing of Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi avenges “Kurdish Yezidi women” and all who have been hurt by ISIS, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday, accusing Turkey of sheltering the terrorist leader.
“We consider the operation a vengeance for Kobane, Shingal, Khabur River, Nineveh Plains, Kirkuk, Xanaqin, Maxmour, especially a revenge for the Kurdish Yezidi women, and a revenge for humanity,” SDF spokespersons told reporters in Hasaka on Sunday.
In the early hours of Sunday, following a US-led covert operation, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, committed suicide by explosive belt after being discovered by US special forces.
The terror group has a left a notorious legacy of genocide against Yezidis, forced conversions imposed on religious minorities, and death and destruction. The group was declared defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017 and in March 2019 in Syria.
Yezidis were among the biggest victims of ISIS when their stronghold of Shingal, near the Syrian border, was overrun in 2014. Thousands of women were kidnapped, and sold into sexual slavery. Yezidi children were brainwashed and trained as child soldiers, while men were shot on site and killed en masse. The scars inflicted on the community five years ago remain as fresh as ever.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), and its female counterpart Women's Protection Units (YPJ), opened a safety corridor into Syria for Yezidis stranded on Mount Sinjar in August 2014, saving thousands from ISIS. Both Kurdish groups, which form the backbone of the SDF, have also been instrumental in freeing tens of Yezidi women and children from the hands of ISIS during their anti-ISIS ops.
“The operation that today took place was a revenge for anyone around the world hurt by the Daesh terrorist organization,” the SDF added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
The Netherlands-based Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF) praised the US-led operation on “rapist” al-Baghdadi, who was known for abusing several Yezidi women, as well as US aid worker Kayla Mueller. In tweets published Sunday evening, FYF added that although many in the community welcomed his death, a trial would have been preferable. Speaking of the genocide, it added that “the memories will always be there. One day perhaps it will be exposed through actual indictments and trials.”
| The SDF claimed that after taking control of Baghouz, ISIS' last bastion in Eastern Syria on March 23, they obtained "confirmed information" that Baghdadi had gone to Idlib, but they had not confirmed his exact whereabouts. "In the last days, his whereabouts were confirmed, and that information was shared with the American side, especially the CIA.” |
The SDF claimed that after taking control of Baghouz, ISIS' last bastion in Eastern Syria on March 23, they obtained "confirmed information" that Baghdadi had gone to Idlib, but they had not confirmed his exact whereabouts. "In the last days, his whereabouts were confirmed, and that information was shared with the American side, especially the CIA,” their team asserted.
“As a result of joint sensitive and precise work for more than five months, between the Military Intelligence of the Syrian Democratic Forces and American forces, through coordination on the highest levels, the head of the Daesh, known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been eliminated in a joint operation with American forces today at dawn near one of the Turkish military bases in the Barisha village in the province of Idlib,” the SDF said.
The dawn operation was conducted with "actual participation" of the SDF's intelligence branch, who were very "vital members" of the whole operation, claimed the Kurdish military force.
They added that the recent Turkish incursion in Rojava delayed the operation.
“We from the Syrian Democratic Forces would like to announce that this operation was delayed for more than a month due to the Turkish aggression on our region,” the SDF claimed, referring to Turkey’s so-called “Peace Spring” operation into Kurdish-controlled Syrian territory on October 9.
The invasion was preceded by the withdrawal of US forces from the area based on the order of US President Donald Trump. Due to the Turkish invasion, SDF has to concentrate on defending its areas.
SDF Media Spokesman Mazloum Abdi told Associated Foreign Press (AFP) on Sunday that the death of the terror leader “will lead to revenge attacks”, including potential prison breaks. Security in SDF-prisons holding ISIS prisoners has been of major concern in recent weeks as Kurdish resources run low amid the Turkish invasion. Several prisoners managed to escape a Qamishli prison following Turkish shelling on October 11.
ISIS propaganda outlet Nashirnews announced via Telegram announced several attacks in recent days on SDF, Syrian and Iraqi forces.
Why was Baghdadi in areas under Turkish influence?
Baghdadi was sheltered by Turkey and Turkey has to answer why he was in areas in Idlib province that are under Turkish influence, the SDF also argued.
“We have before said that Daesh leaders are abetted and sheltered in Turkish state-controlled areas [in Syria]. Today's event, as we have already said, is the the biggest evidence of our argument,” the SDF added.
“This is the big question that needs to be asked, which the Turkish state has to answer. What was Baghdadi doing in areas under the influence of the Turkish forces in Idlib city near the Turkish border?" SDF asked.
Turkey has multiple observation points across the border of the Idlib province in Northwestern Syria. Idlib is dominated by Jihadist groups, especially the Hayat Tahrir Sham, the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The Turkish presence is based on an agreement from last year to prevent a Syrian offensive into the province.
From the article:
The operation killed nine people including a Daesh senior leader called Abu Yamaan as well as a child and two women, it said. |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) carried out a new 
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The case emerged in February 2016 when Huthaifa Derkel was stopped and questioned. He admitted to the charges brought against him from theft to communicating with a regime agent, and handing over three people to the security forces for them to be conscripted into the army. Derkel’s testimony was strengthened by that of his partner in the thefts Khalouk Hallak. Hallak testified that Derkel told him that he handed three people from the al-Qasas family to the regime security forces.