Easy Qur'an Reading with Baghdadi Primer ( Paperback )

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In his new book, McCants explains how the Islamic State defied conventional jihadist thinking about how to wage wars and win recruits. Based largely on primary sources in Arabic, including secret al-Qaida and Islamic State letters few outsiders have seen, McCants reveals the group’s violent past and forecasts its dark future. Learn more about the book from St. Martin’s Press. The raid that killed Baghdadi is a reminder of America’s commitment to protect vital interests and neutralize what it deems to be a strategic threat in the region. But now that IS has lost most of the territory it gained in 2014, the death of al-Baghdadi could strike the final blow for the terror organization's global ambitions.

April 2013: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, announces the merger of his group with al-Qaida's franchise in Syria, forming the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The Guardian, however, reported Iraqi officials as saying that the break came after a smuggler (who had smuggled the wives of two brothers of Baghdadi and Baghdadi's children in the past), a woman thought to be his wife, and Baghdadi's nephew provided information on the routes and destinations. [3] Baghdadi threw himself into the writings of those Muslim Brothers who had embraced jihadism. Under their tutelage he grew increasingly impatient with the Brotherhood mainstream, which he felt was made up of “people of words, not action.” The US Kurdish allies in Syria — the same ones the United States abandoned when it abruptly withdrew most of its forces from Syria and greenlit a Turkish invasion — reportedly played a key role in providing intelligence for the raid. So, too, did Iraqi allies. This is the norm, not the exception. Much of the intelligence war on terrorism is done by, with, and through allies, which have on-the-ground information as well as a capacity to act locally, neither of which can be replaced without massive US troop deployments.

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Baker, Peter; Schmitt, Eric (November 1, 2019). "The 'Whimpering' Terrorist Only Trump Seems to Have Heard". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019 . Retrieved November 2, 2019. Mizokami, Kyle (October 28, 2019). "The Helicopters That Made the U.S. Army's ISIS Raid Possible". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019 . Retrieved October 31, 2019. Seligman, Lara (October 27, 2019). "Baghdadi is Dead, But ISIS Remains Emboldened Since Trump's Drawdown". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019 . Retrieved October 27, 2019. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spent five months working with the U.S. government to gather intelligence on Baghdadi's whereabouts, according to Kurdish and U.S. officials. Gen. Mazloum Abdi, SDF commander, was the only foreigner to know about the target, he told Foreign Policy through a translator. His account was confirmed independently by the senior U.S. official. In July 2014, shortly after Isis said it had established a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Baghdadi delivered a sermon from a mosque in the captured Iraqi city of Mosul. Appearing unmasked for the first time, he declared himself to be the caliph: the political and religious leader of the global Muslim community.

Throughout his life, Baghdadi has chosen the path of religious extremism, and in ways as small as denouncing dancers at a wedding and as large as mass executions he has always attempted to impose his views on others. He could have been a university professor, persuading young minds with argument. But the believer became the commander of the believers, seeking to impose his savagely bleak religious vision on the entire world. “The march of the mujahidin will continue until they reach Rome,” he proclaimed last year. If Baghdadi’s life is a cautionary tale, it is about the danger of creating the chaos that allows men like him to flourish. Baghdadi’s newly-minted scholarly credentials as well as the work he had done managing the Islamic State’s religious affairs brought him to the attention of Masri, who appointed him supervisor of the Sharia Committee, hence the enforcer of all the Islamic State’s religious strictures. Masri also named him to the 11-member Consultative Council. The council ostensibly advised the emir, Abu Umar, but was actually controlled by Masri, whose support came from his fellow foreign jihadists. When Baghdadi joined the council, the Iraqi members were growing restless and had rallied around their countryman Abu Umar, hoping for a greater say in the decision-making. THE BARE FACTS OF BAGHDADI’S BIOGRAPHY SHOW AN UNUSUALLY CAPABLE MAN. HE HELPED FOUND AN INSURGENT GROUP, FINISHED A PH.D. WHILE MANAGING THE RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE, BUILT COALITIONS, AND INTIMIDATED RIVALS. Reuters reported Iraqi intelligence officials as stating that the arrest of several Islamic State leaders was the key behind learning about Baghdadi's movements and hiding places. They said that Ismael al-Ethawi, believed to be a top aide to Baghdadi, was found and followed by informants in Syria, apprehended by Turkish authorities, and handed over to Iraqi intelligence agents to whom he provided information in February 2018. The Iraqis then gave the information to the CIA, who kept surveillance on the discovered location through a satellite and drones. They also said that in 2019 the United States, Turkish and Iraqi intelligence conducted a joint operation in which they captured several high-ranking ISIL leaders, including four Iraqis and a Syrian, who provided the locations where they met with Baghdadi inside Syria, after which they decided to coordinate with the CIA to deploy more sources inside these areas. An Iraqi official remarked that Baghdadi's "last moment to live" was when he and his family left the location that they were in for the first time in five months. [15]January: Al-Baghdadi's forces overrun the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western Anbar province and parts of the nearby provincial capital of Ramadi. In Syria, they seize sole control of the city of Raqqa after driving out rival Syrian rebel factions, and it becomes their de facto capital. Johnson, Martin (October 29, 2019). "ISIS informant helped US military locate al-Baghdadi: report". The Hill. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019 . Retrieved October 31, 2019.

The raid was launched based on an intelligence effort to locate the leader of ISIL by the CIA's Special Activities Center. [11] The New York Times reported that, according to two U.S. officials, the CIA obtained the original intelligence on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi following the arrests of one of his wives and a courier, after which the CIA worked closely with Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officials in Iraq and Syria. [12] Despite the religiosity of Baghdadi’s family, some of its members joined the Baath Party, a socialist organization dedicated to the goal of pan-Arab union. Although Baathist leaders tolerated and sometimes even encouraged private devotion as an outlet for religious fervor, they were wary of religious activism as a threat to their rule. Baathism had dominated Iraqi politics and the machinery of state since the late 1960s, so citizens who wanted government jobs had to join the party regardless of their personal convictions.JCS Chairman Milley said during a Pentagon briefing that the disposal of Baghdadi's corpse was "handled appropriately", initially adding that Washington had no plans to release images of his death, but later showed footage of the raid during a briefing on October 30. [52] [53] Baghdadi was buried at sea and afforded Islamic rites, three anonymous U.S. officials told Reuters and a Pentagon source told AFP. [54] [55] An aide of Baghdadi, who handled logistics, was the other man killed according to Iraqi officials. [56] United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that two wives of al-Baghdadi were also killed in the raid. [57] Conan, the American Special Operations Military Working Dog that chased after Baghdadi Perhaps learning from the lesson of one of his notorious predecessors in Iraq the Jordanian leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – who was reprimanded in a letter by Al-Qaida Central for the excesses of his vioelnce – Baghdadi's prominent supporters have tried to emphasise a leader open to discussions with tribal leaders. Al-Baghdadi's announcement that the Nusra Front hadjoined his group was contested by the Syrian group's leader, who appealed to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Zawahiri decreedthat al-Baghdadi should remain in Iraq and not pursue activities in Syria, a decision that al-Baghdadi effectively ignored and that spelled the end of the Islamic State in Iraq's allegiance to al-Qaida. Ryan, Missy; Lamothe, Dan (October 27, 2019). "Trump says Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. troops closed in". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019 . Retrieved October 27, 2019. Even before Bin Laden’s death, Zawahiri had established links with groups in Algeria, Mali, Libya, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Egyptian Sinai around 2006, and with al-Shabaab in Somalia in 2008. In 2009, Zawahiri approved the merger of Saudi and Yemeni militants into Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, which proved to be the most loyal and effective of franchises. By this stage, US intelligence called Zawahiri al-Qaida’s strategic commander, relegating Bin Laden to ideological figurehead.

At the age of 15 he was arrested for belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. He called secular pan-Arabism a false panacea and in his book A Bitter Harvest (1991) rejected the Brotherhood’s ameliorative approach.Russia – Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the raid's result, if confirmed, represented a serious contribution by the United States toward combating terrorism. [84] Working with allies, the United States can bomb terrorist hideouts or raid them to arrest and kill their operatives. US intelligence, alone and in combination with allies, is far better able to monitor terrorist havens. Drones and other platforms have greatly expanded US strike options, and special operations forces are far better resourced and focused on the terrorism problem, too. The U.S. operation was named for Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who had been captured by and died whilst in the custody of the Islamic State (IS). Estrin, Daniel; Al-Arian, Lama (March 13, 2020). "The U.S. Investigates Possible Civilian Deaths During Baghdadi Raid In Syria". NPR . Retrieved March 9, 2021.