ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Islamic State (ISIS) has confirmed the death of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and announced his replacement in a voice statement published on Thursday night.
New ISIS spokesperson Abu Hamza al-Qurashi confirmed the death of Baghdadi and his senior assistant Abu Hassan al-Muhajir in the statement, published by ISIS-affiliated outlet al-Furqan.
“The new ISIS leader now is Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi,” the spokesperson said.
“We call on all jihadists around the world to follow our jihadi brother and the caliph [leader] Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, as he was the one who has shown Christians of America very dark and desperate days,” he added.
The statement comes after US Special Forces, in close cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), killed Baghdadi in a raid on his compound to the northern Syrian town of Idlib in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fearing the launch of retaliatory attacks by group members following his death, some European countries including the UK have stepped up surveillance measures. ISIS carried out a spate of vicious attacks across Europe in its heyday, killing hundreds of people.
The group has stepped up attacks in the areas of Iraq and Syria it had controlled until late 2017 and early 2019 respectively.
Near daily attacks have been launched by the group against the Kurdish-led SDF forces in Deir ez-Zor province, where a small contingent of the American forces are set to stay to guard the area’s oil wells from the grasp of ISIS and the militias of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran.
In northern Iraq, ISIS continues to pose a threat to the local population in provinces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Nineveh and Diyala. An airstrike on Saturday night in the vicinity of Shaneshin village killed six ISIS militants.
“There is one family left in our village of Shaneshin,” a local told Rudaw English on Wednesday, referring to his village on the main road from Erbil to Kirkuk.
“Daesh [ISIS] is there and comes into the area at night, people don’t feel safe.”
According to the local, who requested his name be withheld, the entire population of his village and those nearby have fled to either Kirkuk or the town of Pirde (Altun Kupri) since the airstrike on Saturday night.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in an emailed statement on Wednesday night that they are continuing to target ISIS and have carried out several attacks since the killing of the group’s leader in the Idlib countryside on October 27, around 5 kilometers from the Turkish border.
Quoting the commander of the SDF, CENTCOM said Baghdadi's senior assistant, Abu Hesen al-Muhajir was killed on the same day in an airstrike.
"The general outline of the mission was a helicopter assault by special operation forces that were pre-staged in Syria.”
“I can assure you that the plan was significantly more complex than that, and designed to avoid detection by ISIS and others prior to and during execution, to avoid civilian casualties..." said General Frank McKenzie of CENTCOM.
The fight against ISIS became more complicated when President Trump agreed to move his forces out of parts of northern Syria, allowing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch a devastating air campaign on October 7 followed two days later by a ground invasion.
Trump’s administration has since said that a group of American soldiers would be left behind in Deir ez-Zor to protect its oil wells.
Baghdadi’s death is unlikely to bring a final end to the group or the attacks it has been able to execute worldwide.
When asked his reaction to Baghdadi’s death, an imprisoned, unremorseful ISIS fighter from Bosnia told Ian Pannell of ABC News that he did not care – and that an attack on Europe is imminent.
“I really don’t care…because these people also don’t care, how much Baghdadi kills, another one will pop up, how much you kill another one comes, this is the game they play,” Muhammed Hasik imprisoned by Kurdish forces in northern Iraq told Pannell.
“The Americans play this game and the Islamic State plays this game … this thing will not stop to the end.”
In Thursday's statement, ISIS vowed not only to continue their global fight, but to escalate it.
“Today our fighters are on the doors of Europe and in the center of Africa,” spokesperson al-Qurashi said.
In reference to the US, he said “...an old man who shifts his opinions day and night is ruling them, They should not be happy, as we are coming and they will soon wish that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive, as he would have been softer toward them.”
“Our jihadists are ready to committee to their religion, and save their brothers from the hands of the infidels, as Emir of the believers, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi informed us in his last voice message,” the statement concluded.
