When US President, Donald Trump announced that Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi died like a dog, whimpering, there were parallels drawn between him and ex president, Barack Obama who had declared the death of Osama Bin Laden some years back. Trump was recorded saying that when Baghdadi ran into a dead-end tunnel chased by dogs, he ignited his vest, killing himself and his three kids.
The news of Baghdadi dying in a raid first became public on October 27 when his hideout was raided by U.S. special forces in north – western Syria, in a major blow to the jihadist group.
President Trump was also quoted saying, “He was a sick and depraved man and now he’s gone.”
While US has not incurred any personal losses, Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq have been thanked for their support.
Pitch dark and thick with the presence of ISIS, Syria suddenly was a centre of heated activity as helicopters were suddenly hovering around the compound where ISIS chief Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was hiding in Idlib. Helicopters flew low and in precision into the night with U.S. special forces onboard. All this as U.S. President Donald Trump watched the raid in real time via a video link where the troops blasted there way into the hideout. As all hell broke lose for the dreaded man on earth, the only thing that Baghdadi could do was to reportedly run for his life only to meet his end.
As countless years of newsbreaks that fell flat of Baghdadi’s death, this time a tweet by Donald Trump finally confirmed to the world that something big had happened. After years of collection of steady intelligence and a record 48 hours of planning, word was out that Baghdadi was planning to be at a compound in north – western Syria.
News started trickling in from informers that there was a high probability that al-Baghdadi would be at an Idlib province compound.
In no time the military options were chalked out for the marathon chase. In the next 24 hours, the administration was armed with “actionable intelligence” it could exploit.
Trump remained calm and continued his usual engagement. He spent time with daughter Ivanka and son – in – law Jared Kushner on their 10th wedding anniversary. He enjoyed his usual rounds of golf. Later he followed the Baseball World series.
By 5 pm in the evening, Trump was all eyes inside the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing to monitor the raid. Each minutest detail of the operation was monitored with real-time imagery. Reportedly top Democrats — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff were kept in the dark about the operation to keep things secret.
The U.S. aircraft, mostly twin-rotor CH-47 helicopters, took off from Al-Asad air base in western Iraq. Villagers had realized what was coming when they suddenly spotted helicopters swooping low. Wearing a suicide vest, Baghdadi dragged along three children fleeing from American troops. In Donald Trump’s words – as U.S. troops and their dogs closed in; the militant went “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way” to his death. “He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children.”
Within hours, al-Baghdadi was dead.
Al-Baghdadi’s body was mutilated, and the blast led to the tunnel caving in. Once Baghdadi was gone there was no stone unturned to match Baghdadi’s DNA with the dead body to confirm his death.
An onsite DNA test to make sure of his death finally reaffirmed that this was a Man Down moment reassuring the end of the most dreaded man.
“It was him,” Trump said.
As a new heir apparent takes charge in ISIS, the raid has also shed light on how and what the ISIS has on its mind for the coming times ahead. U.S. troops did their spade work for about two hours in the compound after al-Baghdadi’s death recovering highly sensitive material about ISIS.
With the American troops retreating, US fighter fired six rockets at the house bringing the house down.
While bin Laden orchestrated the deadliest militant attack in U.S. history, the killing of al-Baghdadi — who helped the IS group at its height control more than 34,000 square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria — was “the biggest there is,” Trump said as per an international media report.
ISIS has in recent years expanded its reach to 14 separate affiliates in countries across Asia and Africa.
Born in 1971, Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri, years later adopted the nom de guerre al-Baghdadi. A shy child he was never a great one at religious scholarship but knew the art of good Quranic verse recitation.
Al-Baghdadi spent years in Camp Bucca, which gave him further lessons on networking, courting radical factions and moulding himself as a religious leader based on Islamic studies.
When Baghdadi walked free in 2004, his return to the Iraqi capital unleashed mayhem. While he pursued a doctorate, the fall of Saddam Hussein and the U.S. occupation gave him reason to bounce back. By May 2010 when two of his higher-ups were gone, he emerged as the supreme emir.
ISIS recruited around 43,000 fighters from 120 countries to the caliphate in Iraq and Syria. The rain of bloodbath under them touched several places including the death of hundreds of innocents at hotels, mosques and concert halls from Paris to the Sinai, Beirut to San Bernardino, Calif.
As a man of violence al-Baghdadi had a $25-million U.S. bounty on his head and enemies globally. Remaining underground, he rarely stayed more than one night in one place as per highly credible reports in the media.
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