Senin, 28 Oktober 2019

Brexit extension announced as Boris Johnson pushes for December election: live updates - CNN

Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street on Monday.
Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street on Monday. Leon Neal/Getty Images

For the past few days, leaders in Europe and Westminster have been locked in a standoff -- the EU wanting to hear the UK's next steps before granting an extension, and British politicians awaiting a verdict from Brussels before deciding on an early election.

But now one part of the equation has fallen into place -- European leaders have granted a Brexit delay until the end of January.

In theory, that should make an election more likely; the UK now has time to have a campaign period and hold a vote, with several weeks to spare before the new Brexit deadline.

But as Prime Minister Boris Johnson has learned, getting an election is easier said than done. He needs two-thirds of MPs to back the plan, which requires support from the opposition Labour Party.

And Labour have been steadfast in opposing a vote until a no-deal Brexit is "off the table." They've been less clear about what exactly "off the table" means -- so much will depend on whether the party deems this extension satisfactory for them to back a poll.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could still argue that the threat remains of a no-deal in January 2020, as well as at the end of the transition period in Johnson's Brexit deal.

Johnson's Plan B: If Labour do continue to block an election, they'll be isolated. The SNP and the Liberal Democrats have now warmed to the idea of a contest, after previously supporting Corbyn in stonewalling the Prime Minister.

And those two opposition parties have handed Johnson an unlikely lifeline -- they've indicated that they will support a bill overruling the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. This would call for an election but would only need a simple majority of MPs to pass.

In return, they would want the January 31 extension secured, meaning Johnson would have to put his efforts to pass his Brexit deal on hold for now.

This plan could still be an appealing path for the Prime Minister, should he lose the vote on his election request later today.

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https://www.cnn.com/uk/live-news/brexit-delay-boris-johnson-election-monday-dle-gbr-intl/

2019-10-28 11:07:46Z
52780420866456

How al-Baghdadi's death is a big victory for Trump; Freshman lawmaker resigns amid sex scandal - Fox News

Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here's what you need to know as you start your Monday and the new work week ...

Al-Baghdadi takedown a big victory for Trump, blunts criticism of Syria pullback as Dems avoid congratulating president
President Trump's successful operation to take out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent Democrats scrambling on Sunday, as several top party leaders who had charged that the White House had no "real plan" to combat the terror group following the U.S. pullout in Syria were proven wrong. In a dramatic sign of how Democrats' messaging apparently backfired, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" ran an ill-timed sketch suggesting that Trump had created "jobs" for ISIS -- just hours before the president held a news conference announcing al-Baghdadi's demise. The sketch aired around the time the two-hour late-night raid in northwest Syria was underway.

Through the day on Sunday, the Democrats -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez and former Vice President Joe Biden -- seemingly settled on a new strategy. They praised the troops who executed the historic raid, while pointedly avoiding complimenting the president in any way. It was a stark contrast to the way they specifically praised President Obama after he announced Usama bin Laden's death in May 2011.

In this photo provided by the White House, President Donald Trump is joined by from left, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations on the Joint Staff, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the Situation Room of the White House. (Shealah Craighead/The White House via AP)

In this photo provided by the White House, President Donald Trump is joined by from left, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations on the Joint Staff, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the Situation Room of the White House. (Shealah Craighead/The White House via AP)

Congressional Democrats also lamented that they were not informed in advance of the operation, while the Russian military was told so that their airspace could be used.

The president suggested Sunday that Democrats in Congress, who have been conducting an impeachment inquiry against him that has been fraught with leaked information to the media, were not notified before the raid because of concerns they might compromise the operation with leaks. Click here for more on our top story.

Hannity blasts 'sick and repulsive' Washington Post headline that called al-Baghdadi a 'religious scholar'
The Washington Post on Sunday published an eyebrow-raising headline that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an "austere religious scholar." The obituary, written by The Post’s national security reporter Joby Warrick, detailed al-Baghdadi’s rise to power in ISIS from what the paper described as his origins as a "religious scholar with wireframe glasses."

The headline was changed a few times. Washington Post Vice President of Communications Kristine Coratti Kelly told Fox News, "Regarding our al-Baghdadi obituary, the headline should never have read that way and we changed it quickly." Still, Fox News' Sean Hannity called the initial Post headline "sick and repulsive" and said the newspaper needs to be educated on the "evil SOB's" true legacy. Click here for more.

FILE - Katie Hill. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

FILE - Katie Hill. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Freshman Democratic Rep. Katie Hill resigns amid ethics probe into reported affair with staffer
Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., announced her resignation Sunday after a string of reports shining a negative light on her personal life, including a reported affair with her legislative director that sparked a House Ethics Committee investigation. Hill tweeted on Sunday evening, “It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.” She is expected to step down by the end of this week.

The congresswoman last week had fought back against reports of an affair with the congressional staffer, as well as reports she was in a so-called “throuple” relationship with husband Kenny Heslep and a campaign staffer. The scandal escalated last as compromising photos of Hill surfaced.

Northern California wildfire rages, aided by hurricane-force winds
The massive Kincade Fire in California’s famed Wine Country burned at least 84 square miles and forced the evacuations of about 180,000 as firefighters reported a drop in containment from 10 percent to 5 percent by Sunday night. The entire towns of Healdsburg and Windsor in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, were under mandatory evacuation as the evacuation zone stretched from Healdsburg west through the Russian River Valley to Bodega Bay, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency.

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., takes a selfie with President Donald Trump during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the baseball World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., takes a selfie with President Donald Trump during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the baseball World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trump booed by World Series crowd as fans yell 'lock him up'
The partisan Washington Nationals crowd was not pleased when President Trump was shown on the ballpark’s video screen during Game 5 of the World Series between the hometown Nationals and visiting Houston Astros, as fans greeted him with a crescendo of boos in the third inning of the ballgame. In addition, fans mockingly yelled “lock him up,” a chant Trump supporters began in 2016 against his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The Astros beat the Nationals 7-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 will be played on Tuesday night.

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TODAY'S MUST-READS
Adam Schiff: John Bolton is 'key witness' in impeachment inquiry.
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SOME PARTING WORDS

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said "the best of America confronted the worst of mankind, and the good guys won" with the death of al-Baghdadi but warned that the war is far from over.

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for choosing us to start your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing on Tuesday morning.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/al-baghdadis-death-trump-katie-hill

2019-10-28 08:41:42Z
52780420190780

Baghdadi is gone, but ISIS isn't dead yet -- and could be poised for a resurgence - CNN

ISIS established a horrifying standard of brutality, re-establishing slavery, practicing what amounted to genocide against the Yazidis, carrying out mass executions and beheadings -- all caught on camera -- and demolishing religious sites and antiquities.
The United States, with the help of its coalition allies, Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), destroyed the Islamic State and killed Baghdadi.
President Trump: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead
ISIS, however, is far from finished. It operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That, in addition to as many as 18,000 fighters still on the loose between Syria and Iraq, according to a report issued by the Pentagon's Inspector General in August.
There is no reason to conclude that the threat from ISIS' far-flung network of affiliates and sympathizers has disappeared with the passing of Baghdadi. He may have excelled in his evil mission, but he was at the top of a pyramid of power and others will come forward to claim his mantle of leadership and perhaps learn from his demise.
Unlike Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who led al Qaeda in Iraq, Baghdadi maintained a low profile.
He appeared only once in public, in July 2014, when he delivered a sermon in Mosul's Grand Mosque.
After that, ISIS' al-Furqan media wing and social media accounts released sporadic audio messages purported to be from the ISIS leader. Then, earlier this year, another video resurfaced apparently showing Baghdadi sitting in casual clothes on the floor. He declared the "battle for Baghouz is over."
Among the dozens of ISIS fighters and their wives and children CNN interviewed this spring during the battle of Baghouz, the group's last stronghold, in eastern Syria, few mentioned the name of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The diehards, the ones who still remained loyal to the ideology of ISIS, stressed their allegiance to ad-Dawla al-Islamiya -- the Islamic State, not to its leader.
Baghdadi never had a cult of personality. He did stress that he was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad to burnish his Islamic credentials, but he never rose to the level of al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, who was recognizable the world over.
Bin Laden first came to fame during the 1980s, when he led the so-called Arab mujahideen in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In the 1990s, from Sudan and then Afghanistan, he gave interviews to the Western media, including CNN, and even after the 9/11 attacks on the United States he issued statements and put out videos.
As khalifa, or caliph, of the Islamic State, Baghdadi never granted an interview to anyone. Yet in the end the Americans found him, and killed him, "whimpering, screaming and crying," according to US President Donald Trump.
ISIS is not going to disappear. It may morph into something else, just as Osama bin Laden's Arab mujahideen morphed into al Qaeda, which gave birth to al Qaeda in Iraq, which transformed into ISIS.
Regardless of what comes of ISIS, the terrain for extremist groups in the Middle East remains fertile. Authoritarian regimes here have developed a predictable template. They crush the political center by terrifying it into silence, by jailing anyone who calls for change, by killing or torturing opponents real or imagined, by co-opting others and driving the rest into exile.
What real opposition left is dominated by the most extreme and violent elements, their ranks often replenished by those who are able to emerge from the prisons and torture chambers in places like Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad and Riyadh.
As a result, the populace is faced with a stark choice: subdued, quiet acceptance of the authoritarian state and its inherent corruption, or siding with the extremists. In the end, the former usually happens.
The West, particularly the United States, still pays lip service to democracy and human rights, but it too for decades has fallen into the same trap. As distasteful as some of its Middle Eastern allies are, the thinking goes, they're preferable to the extremists.
And unless and until the dictator's template is smashed, new Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis will emerge.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/middleeast/isis-next-baghdadi-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-10-28 07:56:18Z
52780420190780

Baghdadi is gone, but ISIS isn't dead yet -- and could be poised for a resurgence - CNN

ISIS established a horrifying standard of brutality, re-establishing slavery, practicing what amounted to genocide against the Yazidis, carrying out mass executions and beheadings -- all caught on camera -- and demolishing religious sites and antiquities.
The United States, with the help of its coalition allies, Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), destroyed the Islamic State and killed Baghdadi.
President Trump: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead
ISIS, however, is far from finished. It operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That, in addition to as many as 18,000 fighters still on the loose between Syria and Iraq, according to a report issued by the Pentagon's Inspector General in August.
There is no reason to conclude that the threat from ISIS' far-flung network of affiliates and sympathizers has disappeared with the passing of Baghdadi. He may have excelled in his evil mission, but he was at the top of a pyramid of power and others will come forward to claim his mantle of leadership and perhaps learn from his demise.
Unlike Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who led al Qaeda in Iraq, Baghdadi maintained a low profile.
He appeared only once in public, in July 2014, when he delivered a sermon in Mosul's Grand Mosque.
After that, ISIS' al-Furqan media wing and social media accounts released sporadic audio messages purported to be from the ISIS leader. Then, earlier this year, another video resurfaced apparently showing Baghdadi sitting in casual clothes on the floor. He declared the "battle for Baghouz is over."
Among the dozens of ISIS fighters and their wives and children CNN interviewed this spring during the battle of Baghouz, the group's last stronghold, in eastern Syria, few mentioned the name of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The diehards, the ones who still remained loyal to the ideology of ISIS, stressed their allegiance to ad-Dawla al-Islamiya -- the Islamic State, not to its leader.
Baghdadi never had a cult of personality. He did stress that he was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad to burnish his Islamic credentials, but he never rose to the level of al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, who was recognizable the world over.
Bin Laden first came to fame during the 1980s, when he led the so-called Arab mujahideen in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In the 1990s, from Sudan and then Afghanistan, he gave interviews to the Western media, including CNN, and even after the 9/11 attacks on the United States he issued statements and put out videos.
As khalifa, or caliph, of the Islamic State, Baghdadi never granted an interview to anyone. Yet in the end the Americans found him, and killed him, "whimpering, screaming and crying," according to US President Donald Trump.
ISIS is not going to disappear. It may morph into something else, just as Osama bin Laden's Arab mujahideen morphed into al Qaeda, which gave birth to al Qaeda in Iraq, which transformed into ISIS.
Regardless of what comes of ISIS, the terrain for extremist groups in the Middle East remains fertile. Authoritarian regimes here have developed a predictable template. They crush the political center by terrifying it into silence, by jailing anyone who calls for change, by killing or torturing opponents real or imagined, by co-opting others and driving the rest into exile.
What real opposition left is dominated by the most extreme and violent elements, their ranks often replenished by those who are able to emerge from the prisons and torture chambers in places like Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad and Riyadh.
As a result, the populace is faced with a stark choice: subdued, quiet acceptance of the authoritarian state and its inherent corruption, or siding with the extremists. In the end, the former usually happens.
The West, particularly the United States, still pays lip service to democracy and human rights, but it too for decades has fallen into the same trap. As distasteful as some of its Middle Eastern allies are, the thinking goes, they're preferable to the extremists.
And unless and until the dictator's template is smashed, new Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis will emerge.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/middleeast/isis-next-baghdadi-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-10-28 06:50:12Z
52780420190780

Minggu, 27 Oktober 2019

Trump says Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. troops closed in - The Washington Post

From the White House Oct. 27, President Trump announced the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

President Trump on Sunday announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive Islamic State leader, died during a U.S. military operation in Syria, a major breakthrough more than five years after the militant launched a self-proclaimed caliphate that inspired violence worldwide. 

"Last night the United States brought the world’s Number One terrorist leader to justice," Trump said in a televised announcement from the White House. “He was a sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone.” 

The president described what he called a "dangerous and daring" nighttime operation by U.S. Special Operations forces in northwest Syria, involving a series of firefights and culminating in what he said was a retreat by Baghdadi into a tunnel. There Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of the six children he was believed to have.

[ISIS leader Baghdadi urges followers to continue attacks, storm prisons]

The high-risk operation brings a dramatic end to a years-long hunt for the man who spearheaded the Islamic State’s transformation from an underground insurgent band to a powerful quasi-state that straddled two countries and spawned copycat movements across several continents.

Trump said Baghdadi, a longtime militant who was once held in a U.S.-run prison in Iraq, had been tracked over the last two weeks to a compound in Syria’s Idlib province which was laid with tunnels. He said no U.S. personnel died during the operation but that other militants were killed. 

The raid comes as the United States scrambles to adjust its posture in Syria in the wake of Trump’s decision to curtail the U.S. military mission there. Trump faced widespread criticism, including from members of his own party, when he declared earlier this month that he would pull out nearly all of the approximately 1,000 troops in Syria amid a Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish troops who have been the Pentagon’s main battlefield partner there. But evolving plans now call for a larger residual force that could mean a substantial ongoing campaign. 

During his remarks Trump thanked officials in other nations, including Russia and Turkey, and Syrian Kurdish forces.

Al-Furqan Media/Afp Via Getty Im

A video from the Islamic State group broadcast on April 29 shows its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an undisclosed location.

Trump said the operation had been in the works for at least several weeks, saying that earlier plans to strike had been postponed. Trump said eight helicopters ferried in American troops from an unspecified location in what he described as a risky, roughly hour-long flight. 

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details, said that troops from Delta Force, an elite military unit, conducted the operation with support from the CIA and Kurdish forces.  The official said that Baghdadi had been located in large part thanks to U.S. intelligence agencies intensifying their focus on Idlib province because of militants there with loose links to al-Qaeda.

In describing the importance of Baghdadi’s death, Trump named American citizens whose executions by the Islamic State first pulled the United States into a military operation against the group, including James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Kassig.

During the group’s extremist reign, many more Iraqis and Syrians were killed or brutalized. Militants also enslaved women and children from Iraq’s Yazidi minority. 

The Islamic State inspired high-profile acts of violence beyond its physical territory, including major attacks in the United States and France, as well as the establishment of potent foreign affiliates in places like Libya.The Pentagon continues to conduct attacks against self-branded ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

While the group no longer controls significant territory, officials say it remains a serious threat. 

A native of the Iraqi city of Samarra, Baghdadi, 48, remained a reclusive figure even to his supporters. In an audio message issued last month he urged militants to launch attacks against security forces and to attempt to break imprisoned brethren out of jail. 

Trump praised his military and intelligence officials for the operation, which he said he watched from the White House situation room with Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials. He said the military had taken DNA samples from Baghdadi’s remains and had quickly conducted tests to determine his identity. 

“Baghdadi was vicious and violent, and he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward running and crying,” he said. Baghdadi’s actions during the operation could not be immediately verified. 

The president acknowledged that other senior militants remained at large. 

Pentagon officials have warned that the Islamic State could use the recent upheaval in Syria as an opportunity and last week Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper acknowledged that more than 100 fighters had escaped from Kurdish-run prisons. 

 A senior official from Iraq’s intelligence service, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the arrests and interrogation of a number of people close to Baghdadi yielded up his location, which was provided to the Americans. He confirmed the location raided Saturday was one that his service had discovered.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, whose troops have fought alongside the United States in Syria, indicated that they too had provided intelligence for the operation.

“For five months there has been joint intel cooperation on the ground and accurate monitoring, until we achieved a joint operation to kill Abu Bakir al-Bagdadi,” its commander, Gen. Mazloum Abdi tweeted.

[ISIS leader Baghdadi makes first video appearance in 5 years]

Trump has recently been accused of abandoning the Kurds following a decision to pull back most of the U.S. forces in northern Syria that had provided a deterrent against the Turks across the border.

Omar Haj Kadour

AFP Via Getty Images

A Syrian man inspects the site of helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the Idlib province along the border with Turkey on October 27, 2019, where “groups linked to the Islamic State group” were present.

[Islamic State leader Baghdadi resurfaces, urges supporters to keep up the fight]

Reuters Tv

Reuters

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing at a mosque in Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014.

The raid targeting Baghdadi took place outside of the area where the U.S. military — which began airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria in 2014 and established a ground mission the following year — has focused its campaign in recent years. But there have been occasional U.S. attacks on militant targets in Idlib, including an airstrike last month. 

According to Javed Ali, a former White House senior director for counterterrorism, the death of Baghdadi would be a “huge blow.” But, like the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in 2011, it “will not lead to strategic defeat,” he said. Ali noted that the Islamic State has proved resilient despite the physical loss of its caliphate.

Liz Sly in Los Angeles, Souad Mekhennet in Germany, Sarah Dadouch in Beirut, Kareem Fahim in Istanbul, Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Shane Harris, Joby Warrick and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report. 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-forces-launch-operation-in-syria-targeting-isis-leader-baghdadi-officials-say/2019/10/27/081bc257-adf1-4db6-9a6a-9b820dd9e32d_story.html

2019-10-27 14:40:00Z
52780420190780

Trump says Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. troops closed in - The Washington Post

From the White House Oct. 27, President Trump announced the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

President Trump on Sunday announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive Islamic State leader, died during an American military operation in Syria, a major breakthrough more than five years after the militant launched the group's self-proclaimed caliphate. 

"Last night the United States brought the world’s Number One terrorist leader to justice," Trump said in a televised announcement form the White House. “He was a sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone.” 

The president described what he called a "dangerous and daring" nighttime operation by U.S. Special Operations forces in northwest Syria, involving a series of firefights and culminating in what he said was a retreat by Baghdadi into a tunnel. There Baghdadi, who Trump said was “whimpering and crying and screaming,” detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three young children he brought with him.

[ISIS leader Baghdadi urges followers to continue attacks, storm prisons]

The high-risk operation brings a dramatic end to a years-long hunt for the man who spearheaded the Islamic State’s transformation from an underground insurgent band to a powerful quasi-state that straddled two countries and spawned copycat movements across continents.

Trump said Baghdadi, a former university professor who was once held in a U.S.-run prison in Iraq, had been tracked over the last two weeks to a compound in Syria’s Idlib province which was laid with tunnels. He said the operation involved eight helicopters. He said no U.S. personnel were killed in the operation but that militants were killed.

Al-Furqan Media/Afp Via Getty Im

A video from the Islamic State group broadcast on April 29 shows its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an undisclosed location.

The raid comes as the United States scrambles to adjust its posture in Syria in the wake of Trump’s decision to curtail the U.S. military mission. Trump said earlier this month he would pull out nearly all of the approximately 1,000 troops in Syria amid a Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish troops who have been the Pentagon’s main battlefield partner there, but evolving plans now call for a larger residual force that could mean a substantial ongoing campaign. 

Trump during his remarks thanked a long list of nations, including Russia and Turkey, and groups including Syrian Kurdish forces who have been the main U.S. partner in Syria.

A senior official from Iraq’s intelligence service, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the arrests and interrogation of a number of people close to Baghdadi yielded up his location, which they then gave to the Americans. He confirmed the location raided Saturday was the one his service had discovered.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces — long time U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State — indicated that they too had provided intelligence for the operation.

“For five months there has been joint intel cooperation on the ground and accurate monitoring, until we achieved a joint operation to kill Abu Bakir al-Bagdadi,” its commander, Gen. Mazloum Abdi tweeted.

[ISIS leader Baghdadi makes first video appearance in 5 years]

His spokesman, Mustafa Bali, followed up in a tweet of his own explicitly stating its involvement.

“Successful and effective operation by our forces is yet another proof of SDF’s anti-terror capability. We continue to work with our partners in the global @coalition in the fight against ISIS terrorism,” he tweeted, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Trump has recently been accused of abandoning the Kurds following a decision to pull back most of the U.S. forces in northern Syria that had provided a deterrent against the Turks across the border.

Omar Haj Kadour

AFP Via Getty Images

A Syrian man inspects the site of helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the Idlib province along the border with Turkey on October 27, 2019, where “groups linked to the Islamic State group” were present.

A senior Turkish official said that “to the best of my knowledge” Baghdadi had arrived at the location where the raid occurred 48 hours before the U.S. military operation. The official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said Turkey’s military had been informed of the raid in advance but declined to say whether Ankara had shared intelligence that led to the operation, or whether Baghdadi was dead. 

Iraq’s state-run Iraqiyah TV channel broadcast footage of what it called the aftermath of the attack, showing a rocky area marked by a crater and a pile of clothes on the ground, as well as a distant nighttime blast it said was the attack itself.

The Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate, which at its largest stretched across much of Iraq and Syria, has been largely destroyed following years of assaults by U.S., Syrian, Iraqi, European and other forces. But officials believe that the organization remains a formidable threat determined to regain strength. 

While Baghdadi, a native of the Iraqi city of Samarra believed to be in his mid-40s, remained a reclusive figure even to his followers, he urged militants in an audio message issued last month to conduct attacks against security forces and to attempt to break imprisoned brethren out of jail. 

Pentagon officials have warned that the Islamic State could use the further upheaval in Syria as an opportunity to stage a comeback. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper last week acknowledged that more than 100 fighters had escaped from Kurdish-run prisons. 

[Islamic State leader Baghdadi resurfaces, urges supporters to keep up the fight]

According to Javed Ali, a former White House senior director for counterterrorism, the death of Baghdadi would be a “huge blow.” But, like the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in 2011, it “will not lead to strategic defeat,” he said. Ali noted that ISIS has proved resilient despite the physical loss of its caliphate. “That's something we learned in the aftermath of the bin Laden raid,” another high-risk mission.

Reuters Tv

Reuters

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing at a mosque in Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014.

The raid targeting Baghdadi took place outside of the area where the U.S. military, which began airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria in 2014 and established a ground mission the following year, has focused its campaign in recent years. But there have been occasional U.S. attacks on militant targets in Idlib, including an airstrike last month. 

While Idlib, the only province held by the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after eight years of war, is controlled by a patchwork of rebel groups, the dominant military power is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which is loosely tied to al-Qaeda. 

Syrian rebels ejected the Islamic State from Idlib in 2014, but in recent months fleeing Islamic State members have been showing up in the province. Some have been caught and executed by HTS, a fierce rival of the Islamic State. 

Liz Sly in Los Angeles, Souad Mekhennet in Germany, Sarah Dadouch in Beirut, Kareem Fahim in Istanbul, Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Shane Harris and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report. 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-forces-launch-operation-in-syria-targeting-isis-leader-baghdadi-officials-say/2019/10/27/081bc257-adf1-4db6-9a6a-9b820dd9e32d_story.html

2019-10-27 13:42:00Z
52780420190780

ISIS leader al-Baghdadi confirmed dead after apparent suicide during U.S. operation: sources - Fox News

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, sources have confirmed to Fox News.

Al-Baghdadi, who took over ISIS after his predecessor Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed in 2010, detonated a suicide vest, killing himself when U.S. Special Operations forces entered a compound in northern Syria where he was located, according to a U.S. defense official. No U.S. Special Operations forces were hurt or killed in the raid.

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“U.S. forces did a terrific job,” a U.S. military source told Fox News.“This just shows it may take time, but terrorists will not find a sanctuary.” The same source told Fox News that biometric tests confirmed that it was indeed Baghdadi.

The compound was located near the Turkish border in northwest Syria’s Idlib Province, a known terrorist stronghold that has served as a home to groups linked to al-Qaeda. Al-Baghdadi had long been suspected to be hiding in the Idlib Province.

Mazloum Adbi, General Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, touted a “historical operation” in a tweet Sunday morning, crediting “joint intelligence work with the United States of America.”

Regarding Mazloum’s claim of Kurdish assistance in the operation, a U.S. military source simply told Fox News, “the Kurds have always been good partners.”

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President Trump is scheduled to speak Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. ET, when he is expected to discuss the operation. Saturday night, he simply tweeted, "Something very big has just happened!"

Al-Baghdadi reportedly had a $25 million bounty on his head.

Earlier this year, Iraqi intelligence officials speaking to Fox News maintained he was lurking in Syrian border towns, often wearing non-traditional or “regular” clothes, using a civilian car, and making sure anyone around him had no mobile phones or electronic devices in order to bypass detection.

Some experts had predicted that as time passed and ISIS losses in the Middle East mounted, it was inevitable that al-Baghdadi would be captured or killed.

Fox News' Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/isis-leader-baghdadi-confirmed-dead-after-apparent-suicide-during-u-s-operation-sources

2019-10-27 11:30:52Z
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