Islamic State vows revenge against U.S. for Baghdadi killing

By Hesham Abdulkhalek and Ulf Laessing

 

Late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is seen in an undated picture released by the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, U.S. October 30, 2019. U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS.

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State confirmed on Thursday that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a weekend raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria, and vowed revenge against the United States.

 

The Iraqi rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017 before Islsmic State's control disintegrated under U.S.-led attacks.

 

The group confirmed his death in an audio tape posted online and said a successor, identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had been appointed.

 

Aymenn al-Tamimi, a researcher at Swansea University focusing on Islamic State, said the name was unknown but could refer to a leading figure in Islamic State called Hajj Abdullah, whom the U.S. State Department had identified as a possible successor.

 

A former senior figure in the rival Islamist group al Qaeda in Iraq, he is also known as Mohamed Said Abdelrahman al-Mawla.

 

Analysts have also named the Saudi Abu Abdullah al-Jizrawi and Abdullah Qaradash, an Iraqi and one of Baghdadi’s right-hand men, as potential successors along with the Tunisian Abu Othman al-Tunisi.

 

An Islamic State spokesman warned the United States in the tape to "beware vengeance (against) their nation and their brethren of infidels and apostates".

 

Baghdadi's death is likely to cause Islamic State to splinter, leaving whoever emerges as its new leader with the task of pulling the group back together as a fighting force, according to analysts.

 

Whether the loss of its leader will in itself affect the group's capabilities is open to debate. Even if it does face difficulties in the transition, the underlying ideology and the sectarian hatred it promoted remain attractive to many, analysts say.

 

GUERRILLA ATTACKS

Islamic State also confirmed the death of its spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir.

 

"I think they're trying to send the message, 'Don't think you've destroyed the project just because you've killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the official spokesman'," Tamimi said.

 

Islamic State has resorted to guerrilla attacks since losing its last significant piece of territory in Syria in March.

 

Since Baghdadi's death, it has posted dozens of claims of responsibility for attacks in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

 

H.A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International peace, said the group, also known as ISIS or Daesh, would have picked the name Quraishi for Baghdadi's successor to suggest descent from the Prophet Mohammad's tribe.

 

Baghdadi's "caliph" name also ended in Quraishi.

 

"ISIS is trying to show its followers it respects that tradition, but Muslims more widely aren't likely to care very much, considering the wide violations of Islamic law that ISIS has clearly engaged with," Hellyer added.

 

In his last purported audio message, released in September, Baghdadi said operations were taking place daily and urged freedom for women jailed in Iraq and Syria on suspicion of links to the group.

 

He also said the United States and its proxies had been defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the United States had been "dragged" into Mali and Niger.

 

(Reporting by Hesham Abdulkhalek, Yousef Saba and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Pravin Char and Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-01

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47 minutes ago, webfact said:

and vowed revenge against the United States.

surprise …. surprise   !   not ..

The U.S. is a victim of it's own self infliction.

They need no excuse to commit their crimes, they need no reason to take revenge, they are a network of frustrated losers who turn their hate into killing for the benefit of an ideology that speaks to them. Nothing new.       

Troll post removed.   

 

With people who take their orders from god everything is justified because it is all god's will.

 

 

Love ???? trumps hate. 

Hmmm,

They have vowed to kill or enslave the people and destroy all western (first world) cultures.  This was before we did anything special to them.

Now they're really irritated.  Just what the H(eck) can they do that will be many times worse than that? ... hack the next US election to ensure Trump wins?

28 minutes ago, ourdon said:

Hmmm,

They have vowed to kill or enslave the people and destroy all western (first world) cultures.  This was before we did anything special to them.

Now they're really irritated.  Just what the H(eck) can they do that will be many times worse than that? ... hack the next US election to ensure Trump wins?

 

On your side. They are a radical set of mass murderers and lunatics. They need to be dealt with firmly and hard.

 

Damn these human rights activists and do gooders trying to prosecute soldiers out there with their lives on the line making split second decisions, whilst those that criticize are sat on their sofas with a mug of cocoa.

 

I honestly do not care if one or two soldiers go ' over the line ' due to the stress they are under. Daesh/IS do not play by any rules whatsoever.

 

They murder, behead, stone, rape, and kill civilians as well as military by any means at their disposal. They are scum and vermin. They need eradicating.

 

I wish the UK had the equivalent of a Guantanamo Bay to house these filth returning to the UK, not the easy street prisons they will receive. I also hope that the UK will follow the USA and introduce and build a form of Supermax prisons with a strict regime, and without interference from the Liberals and snowflakes that have infested Britain.

 

All ' whole life term ' prisoners, Cat A prisoners and terrorists would be housed in a UK supermax prison if I had my way. preferably on one of our quiet nearby islands.

 

If they have done crimes to warrant being sent here, they forego any human rights. They did not afford their victims human rights.

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

IS, Daesh or ISIS or whatever they want to call themselves are a detestable disgusting creation formed by lunatics and idiots wallowing in 7th century nonsense.

Islam

A troll post and a reply has been removed.

 

An off topic rant post has been removed. 

23 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

On your side. They are a radical set of mass murderers and lunatics. They need to be dealt with firmly and hard.

 

Damn these human rights activists and do gooders trying to prosecute soldiers out there with their lives on the line making split second decisions, whilst those that criticize are sat on their sofas with a mug of cocoa.

 

I honestly do not care if one or two soldiers go ' over the line ' due to the stress they are under. Daesh/IS do not play by any rules whatsoever.

 

They murder, behead, stone, rape, and kill civilians as well as military by any means at their disposal. They are scum and vermin. They need eradicating.

 

I wish the UK had the equivalent of a Guantanamo Bay to house these filth returning to the UK, not the easy street prisons they will receive. I also hope that the UK will follow the USA and introduce and build a form of Supermax prisons with a strict regime, and without interference from the Liberals and snowflakes that have infested Britain.

 

All ' whole life term ' prisoners, Cat A prisoners and terrorists would be housed in a UK supermax prison if I had my way. preferably on one of our quiet nearby islands.

 

If they have done crimes to warrant being sent here, they forego any human rights. They did not afford their victims human rights.

 

 

 

While I can understand how you feel towards the terrorist scum that isis are, what you propose will only serve to act as a propaganda gift for them.

17 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

Islam

Islam is a religion of peace. No need to condemn all Islam for the actions of a few radicals. 

 

Would you blame atheism for the acts of men like Stalin.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

vowed revenge against the United States.

Why should trump care? none of it will happen to him or his family.

What are they going to do? All dress up and try to look like Trump? Ouch. Or try to get more refugees Muslim into the EU and blame the USA for it? and then make a bunch of them go to the USA borders claiming persecution and let us in? 

32 minutes ago, WayWokeWhiteGuy said:

Islam is a religion of peace. No need to condemn all Islam for the actions of a few radicals. 

 

Would you blame atheism for the acts of men like Stalin.

 

Nonsense,

 

Get in the real world with the rest of us.

When I saw the OP photograph I thought it was one of a Harley Davidson rider that I see on my local roads.????

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

All ' whole life term ' prisoners, Cat A prisoners and terrorists would be housed in a UK supermax prison if I had my way. preferably on one of our quiet nearby islands.

They already have one. Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

1 hour ago, WayWokeWhiteGuy said:

Islam is a religion of peace. No need to condemn all Islam for the actions of a few radicals. 

 

Would you blame atheism for the acts of men like Stalin.

 

You mean, if Stalin had been a devout Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or even Muslim, he would still have killed 20 million of his own citizens?

1 minute ago, rabas said:

 

You mean, if Stalin had been a devout Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or even Muslim, he would still have killed 20 million of his own citizens?

He was a devout communist. Same same.

5 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

He was a devout communist. Same same.

In the philosophy of Marxism, Marxist–Leninist atheism (also Marxist–Leninist scientific atheism) is the irreligious and anti-clerical element of Marxism–Leninism, the official state ideology of the Soviet Union.[1]

 

Marxism–Leninism advocates atheism, rather than religious belief.[2][3][4]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist–Leninist_atheism

 

1 minute ago, rabas said:

In the philosophy of Marxism, Marxist–Leninist atheism (also Marxist–Leninist scientific atheism) is the irreligious and anti-clerical element of Marxism–Leninism, the official state ideology of the Soviet Union.[1]

 

Marxism–Leninism advocates atheism, rather than religious belief.[2][3][4]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist–Leninist_atheism

 

You can be a devout, even evangelical, athiest too. I know, my father was one.....and a communist!

Killing Baghdadi is one thing; taking Syria's oil quite another. Trump may have just overstepped the mark.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1858180047658722&id=479681268841947&sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e

1 hour ago, WayWokeWhiteGuy said:

Islam is a religion of peace. No need to condemn all Islam for the actions of a few radicals. 

 

Would you blame atheism for the acts of men like Stalin.

Quite true...just because the church had many a pedophile scandal, it definately does not mean that all christians are pedos !...got the point?...

.....but the haters, should they be the muslim extremists or the caucasian extremists are no better then each other.

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

1 hour ago, WayWokeWhiteGuy said:

Islam is a religion of peace. No need to condemn all Islam for the actions of a few radicals. 

 

Would you blame atheism for the acts of men like Stalin.

 

Nonsense,

 

Get in the real world with the rest of us.

 

 

are you alleging or insinuating the tvf posters are living in the real world ????

To be honest with you, how can an organization beat a country?

1 hour ago, DannyCarlton said:

They already have one. Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

 

I would upgrade the structure for the 21st century, beef it up security wise and extend it.

5 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

I would beef it up and extend it.

I used to live on the IOW. My cousin is a prison officer. Believe me it's no holiday camp. No need to extend it, there are 3 prisons within walking distance of each other. HMP Parkhurst, HMP Albany and HMP IOW. The whole area is a massive prison.

 

The reason that there's a big concentration of prisons on the IOW is just that, it's an island. Same as Alcatraz.

56 minutes ago, kevin612 said:

To be honest with you, how can an organization beat a country?

The same way a long disease overtakes a healthy body.   

When are these losers going to get a life.   If you leave them alone they will just kill, torture, or enslave innocent people.