President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter today that ISIS spokesman and heir apparent Abu-Hasan al-Muhajir was killed in an military raid in Syria. The Hill. Al-Muhajir's death was reported shortly after the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi but was not confirmed until now. President Trump said during the announcement of al-Baghdadi's death that other ISIS leaders were in their sights, with al-Muhajir dying shortly after. Al-Muhajir was killed in an airstrike along with a few other ISIS fighters.
Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot - Now he is also Dead!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2019
My Comment:
This news was widely reported on Monday but wasn't confirmed until today. For whatever reason it had not been confirmed until President Trump tweeted it out. I could have wrote it up yesterday but there wasn't much information about what happened.
My guess is that it took awhile to confirm the death. If this was an airstrike they probably couldn't do what they did with al-Baghdadi where they used DNA testing right away to confirm that it was him. Instead they probably either had to check the wreckage or are just assuming that he is dead. It's a lot more possible that al-Muhajir is still somehow alive than it is for al-Baghdadi, but I think they are now both dead.
Al-Muhajir was a major ISIS player. He has been the spokesman for the terror group since 2016 when his predecessor, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, was also killed in an airstrike. He gave several propaganda speeches and was one of the frontrunners to replace al-Baghdadi.
There is some question about who al-Muhajir actually is. Some people speculate that he was Yahya al-Bahrumi, who was originally a Texan man named John Thomas Georgelas. Al-Bahrumi was presumably killed in 2017 during the battle of Mayadin in Syria. It's possible or even probable that neither of the men are related to each other.
Killing two major leaders of ISIS is a huge victory for the United States. ISIS is now in chaos and have no real leadership left. That will make regrouping even more difficult than it would have been before the death of al-Baghdadi and al-Muhajir.
ISIS didn't have much of a chance of coming back anyways. There aren't any real territories left that are up for grabs. Only Idlib province is a wild west kind of area and they would have to compete with both the more secular rebels and the al-Nusra Jihadist group. Every other territory in Syria is either controlled by the Syrian government and their Russian allies, the Kurds, Turkey or the United States.
I really do think that this is one of the closing chapters of the ISIS saga. Their caliphate lies in ruins, much of their leadership is dead and what little remains of the organization is scattered and not really capable of major attacks. It's always possible that they could somehow rise from the grave, much as al-Qaeda in Iraq did when it returned as ISIS, but that seems a lot less likely these days.
My guess is that it took awhile to confirm the death. If this was an airstrike they probably couldn't do what they did with al-Baghdadi where they used DNA testing right away to confirm that it was him. Instead they probably either had to check the wreckage or are just assuming that he is dead. It's a lot more possible that al-Muhajir is still somehow alive than it is for al-Baghdadi, but I think they are now both dead.
Al-Muhajir was a major ISIS player. He has been the spokesman for the terror group since 2016 when his predecessor, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, was also killed in an airstrike. He gave several propaganda speeches and was one of the frontrunners to replace al-Baghdadi.
There is some question about who al-Muhajir actually is. Some people speculate that he was Yahya al-Bahrumi, who was originally a Texan man named John Thomas Georgelas. Al-Bahrumi was presumably killed in 2017 during the battle of Mayadin in Syria. It's possible or even probable that neither of the men are related to each other.
Killing two major leaders of ISIS is a huge victory for the United States. ISIS is now in chaos and have no real leadership left. That will make regrouping even more difficult than it would have been before the death of al-Baghdadi and al-Muhajir.
ISIS didn't have much of a chance of coming back anyways. There aren't any real territories left that are up for grabs. Only Idlib province is a wild west kind of area and they would have to compete with both the more secular rebels and the al-Nusra Jihadist group. Every other territory in Syria is either controlled by the Syrian government and their Russian allies, the Kurds, Turkey or the United States.
I really do think that this is one of the closing chapters of the ISIS saga. Their caliphate lies in ruins, much of their leadership is dead and what little remains of the organization is scattered and not really capable of major attacks. It's always possible that they could somehow rise from the grave, much as al-Qaeda in Iraq did when it returned as ISIS, but that seems a lot less likely these days.
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