Trump: Islamic State leader ‘died like a dog’ in Syria raid

Trump thanked the states that helped the U.S. operation. “This raid was amazing and could only take place with the help of other countries. I want to thank Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq and also the Syrian Kurds for the support they gave us. Thanks also to the intelligence experts who helped make this trip possible.”

The president told of the start of the operation. “He was under surveillance for a few weeks, we knew a little bit about where he was going, we had good information that he was going elsewhere. Some efforts were canceled because he constantly changed his mind. We finally saw that he was here, we knew something about the structure, we knew it had tunnels. There was a deadlock for the most part. There was one we thought not, but we also covered it. The level of intelligence and work was incredible. ”

US officials said this morning that the operation to eliminate al-Baghdad took about an hour and a half, and in the end, the ISIS leader activated the explosive belt he was wearing and blew himself up. A Turkish official said Al-Baghdadi arrived 48 hours before the attack. At least three people were reportedly staying with the leader of the murder terrorist organization in the compound where he was hiding and killed alongside him – his personal bodyguard and two of his wives.

US media reported that the operation began with airstrikes, helicopters, and drones. The “Sea Lions” fighters were then deployed on the ground, then a gunfight between them and ISIS personnel. In the liquidation operation.

According to Iraqi security officials, al-Baghdadi was exposed as he tried to smuggle his family to Turkey. “Our sources in Syria have confirmed to the Iraqi intelligence team charged with pursuing al-Baghdadi that he was killed alongside his personal bodyguard in Idlib,” the sources said. One of the officials added: “The operation was implemented after the ISIS leader’s whereabouts were discovered when he tried to extricate his family from Idlib towards the Turkish border.”

Kurdish forces said five months of intelligence information sharing with US-led coalition led to al-Baghdadi’s assassination. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader Kurdish President Mazalom Abdi wrote on Twitter that it was “successful historic operation as a result of joint intelligence work with Washington” “.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said at noon that it had cooperated with the US in preparation for the operation. “The Turkish and US military authorities exchanged and coordinated information between them before the operation,” it said. A Turkish official added: “To my knowledge, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived at the scene where the US attacked 48 hours before the raid. The Turkish army had preliminary information on the attack. We will continue to coordinate our operations on the ground. ”

ISIS, recalls, reached its peak in 2014, after occupying a third of Iraqi territory and vast territories from Syria and proclaiming them “Islamic suit”, a Muslim state that adheres to Shari’a strict rules. Under his rule of terror, masses of minorities were murdered. He scaled women to death, cut hands for minor crimes, and threw gay men from rooftops to their deaths.

Since 2015, when fighting against the organization joined Russia and the US-led international coalition, ISIS lost more and more territories until its two major symbols, the city of Mosul in Iraq and the city of al-Raka in Syria, were released. His Islamic state has collapsed, but his pockets still exist in places like Syria and the Sinai Peninsula, and its activists are deployed around the world and continue to plan jihad attacks.