ISIS Names Successor to al-Baghdadi

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul June 23, 2014. To match Exclusive MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ-MOSUL REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
October 31, 2019 Topic: Politics Region: Middle East Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: Abu Bakr Al-BaghdadiISISWar On TerrorSyriaIslamic State

ISIS Names Successor to al-Baghdadi

Is al-Qurayshi the new al-Baghdadi?

The Islamic State announced its new leader Thursday after confirming the death of its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ISIS said al-Baghdadi will be replaced by Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, the Site Intelligence Group reported Thursday. Site Intelligence Group monitors extremist militant groups on the internet, including ISIS.

The intelligence group reported that ISIS identified al-Qurayshi as the “emir of the believers” and “caliph.” al-Qurayshi is largely unknown outside the ranks of ISIS, The New York Times reported.

News of al-Qurayshi’s appointment followed President Donald Trump’s Sunday announcement that al-Baghdadi died in a U.S. raid in Northern Syria.

“He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way,” Trump said in his Sunday morning speech.

Al-Qurayshi’s death came after almost a decade as one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists. The terrorist became the leader of ISIS in 2013 and participated in aid worker Kayla Mueller’s brutal rape and murder in 2015.

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Image: Reuters.