The leader of the terrorist organization DAISH ("Islamic State", IS, ISIS - banned in Russia) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for the first time since 2014 appeared on the footage of a recording posted by IS media resources. A new video with the "Caliph" was posted on Twitter by the head of the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the activity of Islamist militants on the Internet. Rita Katz.
Al Furqan, previously linked to IS, posted a video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on its Telegram channel, Reuters reported on April 29.
This is the second video featuring al-Baghdadi, the first was recorded at the Al-Nuri mosque in Iraqi Mosul in late June 2014, where the leader of ISIS preached and announced the creation of a “caliphate”.
The new recording, according to Reuters, is a man with a beard (apparently dyed), similar to al-Baghdadi. Sitting on the floor and crossing his legs, he gives instructions and talks about the latest events, points out Reuters. Several people are listening to him nearby, their faces are hidden in the video. The recording lasts 18 minutes. "Caliph" says that the battle in the Syrian city of Baghouz is over (the fighting there ended in March this year, the liberation of the last enclave held by IS terrorists in eastern Syria was then announced by the Arab-Kurdish alliance "Syrian Democratic Forces" supported by the American coalition). In the video, the "caliph" claims that IS will avenge the killings and imprisonment of its supporters.
At the beginning of the recording, according to Reuters, it is indicated that it was filmed in April. However, the authenticity of this data, as well as the authenticity of the video itself, have not yet been confirmed.
The latest information about al-Baghdadi, who has been declared dead or died several times since 2014 from his wounds and incurable diseases, dates back to September last year. Then there was information that the most wanted terrorist in the world died after an oncological disease was discovered in him a few months ago. A high-ranking source in the Iraqi security services was quoted as saying that in recent months al-Baghdadi was paralyzed and died recently of "lung cancer." The news of his death was allegedly not disclosed by the leadership of IS, as the search for a successor to the "Caliph" continues within the terrorist organization. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, also noted that a sharp struggle unfolded around the occupation of the place of the IS leader who had retired to another world.
A month earlier, in August 2018, an audio recording was distributed on behalf of al-Baghdadi, with the help of which he called for the continuation of the "jihad". Then there was another message from the "Caliph" in September, after the above information about his death.
According to Iraqi intelligence as of May last year, the ISIS leader was alive and hiding in the desert regions of eastern Syria. In an interview with the American television channel Fox News, the director of the intelligence and counterterrorism department of the Iraqi Interior Ministry Abu Ali al-Basri then reported the alleged place of refuge of the leader of IS - the village of Hajin in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, located 30 km from the Iraqi border.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's son was killed in Syria by a missile attack by Russian troops. This was reported in early July 2018 by sources in Iraqi military intelligence. According to Iraqi intelligence services, on July 2, three missiles in the Syrian province of Homs destroyed an IS command post equipped in a cave. There were about thirty "leaders of terrorists" in it, among them was the son of the "Caliph" Khutaif al-Badri with his bodyguards.
Until now, the reward promised by the US authorities - $ 25 million - for information that will allow the capture or liquidation of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi remains in force.
Photo: Ropi / Zuma / Globallookpress.com
The future caliph Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri was born in the Iraqi city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, in 1971. The power in the country then belonged to the pan-Arab secularist party of the left wing "Baath".
Ibrahim's father, Avvad, actively participated in the religious life of the community and taught at the local mosque. It was there that his son took his first steps as a theologian: he gathered the neighboring boys, and they read the Koran together.
The Baathists did not encourage the active spread of the religion, but they did not fight against it either. Some of Ibrahim's relatives even joined the ranks of the ruling party. Two uncles of the future caliph worked in the special services of President Saddam Hussein; one of his brothers was an officer in the Saddam army, and the other brother was killed in the Iraqi-Iranian war. Ibrahim himself at the beginning of the conflict was too young to take part in it.
Since 1993, the Iraqi leader began a "campaign to return to the faith": nightclubs were closed in the country, public consumption of alcohol was prohibited, Sharia norms were introduced limitedly (for example, they began to chop off hands for theft).
When it came time to decide on a higher education, Ibrahim al-Badri tried to enter the Law Faculty of Baghdad University, but he was let down by his poor knowledge of English and poor grades. As a result, he entered the theological faculty, and then entered the University of Islamic Sciences, where he received a master's degree in qiraats (schools of public recitation of the Qur'an).
During his studies at the magistracy, at the insistence of his uncle, Ibrahim joined the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood. This supranational Islamist organization advocated the creation of religious Islamic states, but in most countries its followers chose cautious tactics and did not support armed struggle with the authorities. Al-Badri such ideas seemed too soft - he called their followers people of words, not deeds, and the future caliph quickly joined the most radical members of the organization.
After receiving his master's degree in 2000, al-Badri settled in a small apartment in a poor area of Baghdad, next to a mosque. For four years he managed to change two wives and become a father of six children.
In 2004, al-Badri was arrested by the Americans - he went to visit a friend who was on the wanted list. The future caliph ended up in the Camp Bucca filtration camp, where the occupation administration kept suspicious Iraqis. They were not forbidden to perform religious rituals, and the future caliph skillfully used this: he read lectures on religion, conducted Friday prayers and gave instructions to the captives in accordance with his interpretation of Islam.
The prisoners said that Camp Bucca had become a real jihadist academy. “Train him, instill an ideology and show him the way forward so that at the time of his release he becomes a blazing flame,” one of the former prisoners described the strategy of Islamic theologians within the filtration camp in relation to each newcomer.
After his release, al-Badri contacted the people of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who advised him to move to Damascus. In the Syrian capital, he had the opportunity, in addition to working for terrorists, to complete his dissertation. Then a conflict broke out in the ranks of the jihadists, which led to the transformation of the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda into the brutal Islamic State of Iraq. Al-Badri was appointed the head of the religious direction in the Iraqi "provinces" of the organization. The Caliphate did not have territory at that time, so Ibrahim was mainly engaged in the development of a propaganda strategy and made sure that the militants strictly followed religious precepts.
In March 2007, he returned to Baghdad, where he defended his dissertation and became a Doctor of Koran Studies. His scientific success attracted the attention of the then leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Ayub al-Masri, and he made al-Badri the head of the Sharia Committee - that is, responsible for all the religious work of the terrorist organization.
In 2013, the group began to participate in hostilities in Syria and changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and after the blitzkrieg in the summer of 2014 reduced it to the Islamic State. At the same time, Avwad Ibrahim al-Badri declared himself the caliph, finally becoming Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
For the head of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the American authorities promise $ 10 million: on the website of the State Department, rewardsforjustice, he is named by the pseudonym of Abu Dua. Despite the fact that in monetary terms, the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is valued almost twice as expensive, after the death of Osama bin Laden, it is the self-proclaimed caliph and IS leader Abu Bakr who is considered today the “terrorist number one”.
The actions of the ISIS * group amaze the imagination with their cruelty and barbarism. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself "caliph", but with much greater right he can claim another title - "Terrorist number 1". Repeatedly in the last couple of years, there have been reports in the media about the destruction of the leader of the militants, but each time they did not find confirmation. Al-Baghdadi tried to take heightened precautions and did not seek publicity. Much more often interviews were given by his runaway wives. However, this time in the bloody biography of the organizer of the "jihad" a fat point can be put. First, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the destruction of al-Baghdadi can be said "with a high degree of probability." And now the Iraqi TV channel "Al-Sumaria", referring to a source in the "Islamic State" *, confirmed the death of al-Baghdadi.
The path from football player to terrorist
The future militant leader Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri (this is the real name of al-Baghdadi) was born in 1971 in the vicinity of Samarra in Iraq. His biography could well have developed differently. The boy belonged to the Sunni minority, his relatives served in the security forces under Saddam Hussein, and his father taught at the mosque.
Al-Baghdadi himself was going to become a lawyer and tried to enter the University of Baghdad, but to no avail. Then he decided to give preference to religious education and became a master of qiraat (reading of the Quran for ritual purposes) at the University of Islamic Sciences. After that, the future al-Baghdadi settled at the mosque and taught the reading of the Koran to children. Then he got a hobby - football. According to friends, the future terrorist played very well.
In 2003, the precarious religious balance in Iraq was disturbed by outside interference. American troops entered the country. They decided to overthrow Saddam Hussein, accusing him of creating and storing "weapons of mass destruction."
The new pro-American local authorities decided to "democratically" rely on the majority of the population - Shia Muslims. As a result, the popularity of radical ideas among the Sunni minority has grown sharply, and the terrorist underground began to massively replenish the Sunni security forces expelled from the civil service.
"See you guys in New York!"
Al-Baghdadi also joined the Iraqi cell of the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda *.
There he was in charge of religious direction and recruiting militants. In 2005, the Americans arrested the "political officer" of the terrorists, but then nothing said about his future status. Among the other inhabitants of the filtration camp, Camp Bukka al-Baghdadi was not considered either the most dangerous or the most powerful. He himself leaned more on religion. True, the former prisoners later recalled that in the camp the preachers were actively planting radical ideas under the very noses of their guards. The employees of the camp administration themselves have rather pleasant memories of parting with al-Baghdadi. Leaving Camp Bucca, he said:
"Well guys, I'll see you in New York."
Then no one took this phrase for an aggressive hint or threat.
Camp Bucca Camp
And in 2010, al-Baghdadi became the head of the terrorist organization "Islamic State of Iraq" * after the assassination of its former leader. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities in Syria, the organization's ambitions spread to the neighboring country. This is how the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant * or ISIS * came into being. At first, the jihadists were entrenched in Syria, and in 2014 they captured a significant part of northern Iraq. Al-Baghdadi proclaimed a "caliphate" in the controlled territories, and demanded from now on to call himself "caliph".
Photo:livejournal. com
Sexual pleasures of the "true leader"
The leader of the militants became famous not only for his unprecedented cruelty, but also for his "love of love." Even during his law-abiding youth under Saddam Hussein, he was married at least twice and managed to have six children. Since then, stories about his new wives and sex slaves have repeatedly leaked to the media. Moreover, a new portion of revelations usually appeared after the next passion managed to escape. German woman Diane Kruger was responsible in the “caliphate” for the behavior of all the fairer sex, she also headed the Sharia court for women. In particular, she made sure that all residents of the controlled territories behaved quite modestly. Tolley militants became disillusioned with Diana's abilities on the "moral" front, or something else went wrong, but in 2016 Diana fled.
Another ex-wife of al-Baghdadi, Sajah al-Dulaymi, also gained fame. In the midst of her husband's bloody actions, she and her children went to his enemies in Europe. In the hope of getting a permanent home.
“I want to live in one of the European, not Arab countries. I want my children to live and get an education. Even if the mother was married to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a terrorist ... Is the child to blame for this? " - said the woman to Swedish journalists.
Al-Baghdadi's personal life was not limited to communication with official wives. The militants organized entire harems in which they contain sex slaves. Most of them are girls, including minors, from families of religious minorities. In particular, the Yezidi Kurds. One of them, 16-year-old Zeinat, spoke about how she was forced to spend more than one night with al-Baghdadi.
People were killed and tortured in front of the girls. And when Zeynat tried to escape, she herself was almost killed.
“They beat all of us, they didn't leave a living place for us. We were almost black with bruises. They beat us with everything that came to hand: wires, belts, wooden sticks, ”the prisoner recalled.
Al-Baghdadi, she said, took a personal part in the massacre. Yazidis, according to jihadists, are "devil worshipers" and do not deserve pity.
6 deaths of al-Baghdadi
The leader of ISIS * has long been the main target of the special services and armed groups of many countries taking part in the conflict in Iraq and Syria. For the first time, the Americans reported about his murder back in 2005, but later the information was not confirmed. The next time the Arab media announced the possible destruction of al-Baghdadi, it happened in February 2015. A month later, representatives of the pro-Western coalition "killed" him again, and the journalists even managed to "transfer" power to Abdurrahman's successor Mustafa Al Sheikhlar. However, information soon emerged that the head of ISIS * was only wounded.
In 2016, al-Baghdadi was “killed” a couple more times. First as a result of an airstrike by the Western coalition, then through poisoning.
In the spring of 2017, the command of the Russian group of forces in Syria received information that the militant leaders were going to hold a meeting on the outskirts of Raqqa on May 28. There it was planned to discuss a plan for the withdrawal of jihadists from the surrounded city. Drones confirmed the intelligence, and the SU-35 and SU-34 planes destroyed the terrorists' command post. As a result, high-ranking militant leaders, 30 field commanders and about 300 bodyguards were killed.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov stressed then that information about the death of al-Baghdadi is being verified. His liquidation, according to the diplomat, will undoubtedly "bring fear and panic" into the ranks of the militants.
“Based on the experience of defeating the terrorist bandit underground in the North Caucasus, I can say that if this information is confirmed, it will be possible to state another major success of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the fight against international terrorism,” Syromolotov said.
And now, the information seems to have really been confirmed. If we draw a parallel with the same "Al-Qaeda" *, then after the death of Osama bin Laden, the activity of this terrorist group really began to decline. But even then there were dozens of various and contradictory rumors, gossip, myths, conjectures, misinterpretations and versions that the "elusive" Osama is actually alive and only hid for a while ... So, even though the "immortal" al-Baghdadi is dead, but the terrorists, like a flag, will certainly wave for a long time in their interests for a long time to come.
* Extremist organization banned in Russia.
Alexander Sablin
Islamist terrorist groups "Al-Qaeda", "Al-Shabab", "Boko Haram", "Taliban" - their name is legion. But ISIS remains the most brutal and most dangerous today.
The "Islamic State" does not enter into negotiations even with the same terrorists hiding behind the banner of the prophet. And it does not participate in competitions for the title of the richest organization in the world - no one knows how much money ISIS has. But experts assure that the treasures of ISIS are countless - these are donations from Islamists from all over the world, and oil smuggling, and trade in weapons and people.
The brutality of the jihadists is not even legendary - everything is in the news. Every week, their reports on the mass executions of dissenters, insufficiently believers and dissidents appear on the Internet. The journalists looked at the map of ISIS actions and tried to figure out how this group managed to gather so many Islamists from all over the world under its banners in a very short time, and who is its official leader, who calls himself after the medieval caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Unlike the past personification of evil, Bin Laden, his current incarnation, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, is not yet widely known. And although the whole world is discussing his recent marriage to a German woman, only one video with him is available on the Internet to this day. He, unlike Bin Laden, does not come from the richest Saudi family, his relatives are not seen in business ties with the administration of the White House, he did not destroy the "twin towers", and does not hide in impregnable caves in the mountains with the mesmerizing name of Tora Bora ... But he is alive. Meanwhile, while the popularity of Abu Bakr himself is only gaining momentum, the evil that he personifies is already quite real and very promoted.
"This Al-Baghdadi appeared as if out of nowhere, and it is not clear whether the United States is hunting him or not. Look what weapons still fall into the hands of Al-Baghdadi's people in Iraq. He has British, Israeli weapons, and no one attacks. To understand who is behind them, you need to figure out who benefits from the actual destruction of the nation-states - Syria and Iraq, "- said ex-employee of the US National Security Agency Wayne Madson.
The story of how a relatively small militant group of Iraqi Islamists fighting in Syria against Assad under the banner of al-Qaeda, within two years, turned into a powerful structure with the ambitions of a new Arab caliphate is vague. The person of the Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself raises no less questions. It turned out that eleven years ago he was held in an American prison in Iraq, but then was allegedly released. According to the Pentagon's official data, he was kept behind bars for no more than a year. However, the former head of this prison claims that Baghdadi spent five years there and was released only in 2009.
“Some believe that this is sufficient evidence that the Americans worked with him, recruited him, etc. According to my observations and analysis of what is happening, I can say that depending on the Americans and Saudi Arabia, this is all a myth. Iran's propaganda machine, which, so to speak, finds it profitable to present its opponents as mere hirelings of American imperialism, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and so on, but this contradicts the known facts, "said Heydar Jemal, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia.
The rapid transformation of the inconspicuous Islamic activist Ibrahim Al-Badri, released from an American prison, into the leader of the most brutal Islamist military group was accompanied by another process - the appearance in the leadership of the organization of former senior army officers of Saddam Hussein.
“The fact is that when Saddam's officers came to power in the ISIS group, they cleaned out the previous leadership. It is a difficult question who was purging whom, whether the Americans, or these Saddam's guys themselves, but, in general, the former ISIS leadership was destroyed. And the person who, in fact, is behind the creation of the ISIS group was such a former officer of Saddam, who is known as Haji Bakr, he died in January 2014. But, nevertheless, he managed to create this group, he managed to create ISIS, and he found this Al Baghdadi, he pulled him out of there, elevated him and introduced him to the shura, to the council of commanders, that is, the main commanding link of the entire group, "says Anatoly Nesmiyan, a political scientist and expert on the Middle East.
A photograph taken in Syria when the current caliph was still little known. He is in the second row, to the left of Senator McCain. At that time, some unanimity still reigned in the ranks of the fighters against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. All of them were generously funded by Washington, their armed formations, recognized by the Americans as moderate, trained at military bases in Jordan and Turkey. It is noteworthy that the future caliph of the bloodthirsty "Islamic State", who had not yet acquired a beard, was then considered quite a handshake some three years ago. Analysts inclined to the fact that the Americans are still behind the actions of ISIS are convinced: the sharply increased importance of ISIS, the conflict with Al-Qaeda, represented in Syria by the Al-Nusra Front, the replacement of the fight against Assad with a struggle for influence in the ranks of the opposition and, ultimately, the ISIS summer invasion of Iraq - all this is a consequence of serious divisions within the White House and on Capitol Hill.
"The United States has several political goals in this region at once. One of the most significant is the reshuffle of forces in the Middle East. This is carried out through massacres, and not by the US forces, but in this case, by the non-governmental army of the Islamic Caliph ISIS. But there is one more the political line of a group led by Senator McCain. This group seeks, first of all, to overthrow the Assad regime. Senator McCain is not only an American senator and head of the opposition, but also a high-level functionary in the US government. Therefore, it is very difficult to reliably establish who is subordinate to whom. The conflict between these two directions is not a conflict of interests, but a conflict of priorities. Either first rebuild the entire Middle East, or still overthrow Assad. The existence of these two political strategies is obvious, "said French political scientist and orientalist Thierry Meyssan.
It must be admitted that there are many oddities associated with ISIS. Saudi Arabia, whose representatives at one time provided covert support to this formation, is now forced to fortify its border in this direction, not without reason for fearing an imminent attack. It is known that relations between Riyadh and Washington have been far from ideal lately. In addition, since the triumphant entry of Caliph Al Baghdadi's troops into Iraq, the United States and Iran, at least in this direction, have suddenly turned from bitter enemies into allies, bringing Obama closer to the longed-for solution to the Iranian nuclear project. Iraq itself, without the direct participation of the Americans, was de facto divided into three parts. So filming the terrible atrocities committed by the Islamic State militants is clearly not enough to conclude that American policy in the Middle East has failed.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was the world's most wanted terrorist. The US State Department has announced a $ 25 million reward for any information that leads to his capture (the same amount was awarded for the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri).
Origin, education
The real name of the IS leader is Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Husseini al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Dua. It is believed that he was born in 1971 in the Iraqi city of Samarra (120 km north of Baghdad). According to a publication in the German newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung", at school he showed "brilliant mathematical abilities", played excellent football. According to American intelligence, he graduated from the University of Baghdad with a doctorate in history and Islamic law. People who knew al-Baghdadi during his studies note that in his youth he was not distinguished by a leadership character. In particular, in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, a fellow student of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ahmad Dabash said that the IS leader "was quiet, shy and constantly spent time alone."
At the university he shared the views of the Muslim Brotherhood (an international Islamist religious and political organization). In addition, he showed interest in Salafism (an orthodox direction in Sunni Islam; his followers call for a return to the way of life and faith of the Muslim community during the time of the Prophet Muhammad). Until 2003, al-Baghdadi preached and taught Islamic law in the Diyala province in central Iraq.
Joining Islamists
In 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq by the US-led Western coalition, al-Baghdadi joined the ranks of the rebels who began armed resistance against foreign occupation. Later he joined the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. By the fall of 2005, he had become famous as one of the leaders of this group in the region. Al-Baghdadi, in particular, was engaged in the transfer of volunteers from Syria and Saudi Arabia to participate in the war against the Western coalition in Iraq.
According to the US Department of Defense, al-Baghdadi was detained and held from February to December 2004 in the largest American prison camp in Iraq, Bukka (located near the city of Umm Qasr on the border with Kuwait).
According to other sources, al-Baghdadi was captured in 2005 during the operation of American troops in the rebellious Sunni cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra and was held in the Bukka camp until 2009. Information about the liberation of al-Baghdadi in 2009 Shortly before the closed camp confirms in an interview with The Daily Beast and the commander of the Bucca camp, US Army Colonel Kenneth King. The prisoner was remembered by the colonel in particular for the fact that when he was sent from the camp, he said to his guards: "I'll see you in New York," because he knew where they were from.
According to some media reports, during his imprisonment, al-Baghdadi organized a meeting with American General David Petraeus, who from February 2007 to September 2008 was the commander of the Multinational Force in Iraq (in 2010-2012 - the director of the CIA). It is believed that one of the goals of Petraeus was the recruitment of al-Baghdadi.
At the head of the "Islamic State"
In May 2010, al-Baghdadi became the head of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) terrorist organization. Its former leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was killed in an American rocket attack in April 2010. In 2011, after the outbreak of armed confrontation in Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent his assistant Adnan al-Haj Ali (better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jaulani), who formed and led there the anti-government terrorist jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).
In April 2013, the Iraqi ISI merged with the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra. The new group was named the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and al-Baghdadi became its leader. However, a few months later, in November 2013, a split occurred between the Iraqi and Syrian factions. As a result, Jabhat al-Nusra separated from ISIS and again began to act independently. Al-Baghdadi remained the leader of ISIS. Experts estimate its total number at 30 thousand people; militants are fighting both in Iraq and Syria.
In January 2014, under the leadership of al-Baghdadi, the Sunni cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq were seized. Since the beginning of June 2014, ISIS has launched an active offensive in Iraq with the aim of creating an Islamic caliphate on the territory of the Sunni provinces. The jihadists managed to capture the cities of Mosul, bordering Iraqi Kurdistan (fighting for the liberation of the city has continued since October 17, 2016) and Tikrit (liberated in May 2015), and took control of most of the provinces of Ninawa, Salah al-Din and Diyala. In the summer of 2014, ISIS terrorists fortified themselves in the Syrian province of Raqqa (fighting for the city has been going on since November 2016).
On June 29, 2014, on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, ISIS decided to establish a quasi-state - the Islamic Caliphate. On the same day, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who proclaimed himself the direct heir of the Prophet Muhammad, was appointed Caliph (head of the Caliphate) under the name Ibrahim, and the organization was renamed the Islamic State (IS). On July 4, 2014, during Friday prayers at the Al-Nuri mosque (blown up by retreating IS militants on June 21, 2017), al-Baghdadi made his first public speech. It was videotaped and posted on the Internet. In it, the IS leader called on all Muslims in the world to obey him and join the jihad led by the group.
By December 2015, the Islamic State headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi controlled 70% of the territory of Syria and 30% of Iraq. In addition, IS has managed to gain a foothold in Libya. In 2015, militants took control of the Libyan province of Sirte. In January 2015, the IS leadership announced the creation of the Emirate of Khorasan, which included Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
The media call the IS leader "the true heir to Osama bin Laden" (head of al-Qaeda, killed by American special forces in 2011). In the territories controlled by IS, there are mass executions of both representatives of other faiths (Christians, Yezidis) and Muslims (Shiites and Sunnis who disagree with IS). The militants arrange special demonstrative executions, which they record on video (in particular, the chopping off of heads) and then disseminate them on the Internet. The case of the murder of American journalist James Foley in August 2014 in Syria and 21 Copts in February 2015 in Libya was widely known. After the departure of the militants, mass graves were found in a number of settlements in Syria and Iraq (Aleppo, Sinjar). Religious and cultural monuments were destroyed. In addition, the Islamists are engaged in human trafficking; the facts of violence which women and girls are subjected to in the territories controlled by IS are known.
IS is systematically carrying out terrorist attacks outside the Middle East. So, since the beginning of 2015, 9 terrorist attacks have been carried out in Western Europe, the victims of which were about 300 people.
Reports of death and capture
During the activities of the IS group, the media have repeatedly reported the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On March 18, 2015, the media published information that the IS leader was seriously wounded and died in a hospital in the Syrian city of Raqqa. On June 10, 2017, the Syrian media reported that he was killed in an airstrike.
In late September 2017, IS, through its affiliated agency Al Furqan, published a 46-minute audio recording of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's statements. According to Reuters, part of the appeal of the leader of the terrorists is devoted to the conflict between the United States and North Korea. In his speech, al-Baghdadi also called for an attack on the media.
On December 17, 2017, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reported that American troops had captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. A source in Syria said that al-Baghdadi was captured in Iraq, then transported to an American base in Syria. The Pentagon does not comment on this information.
It is believed that al-Baghdadi is very careful. Supporters call him the "invisible sheikh".
In January 2019, the Arab media The New Arab, citing a high-ranking Iraqi official, reported that an elite American SEAL Team 6 squadron was sent to the SAR (in 2011, the squadron destroyed Osama bin Laden) to capture al-Baghdadi.
