Isis to avenge chief strategist’s death
Islamic State’s spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group’s attacks against the West, has been killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, the group announced yesterday.
The Isis-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Muhammed alAdnani was ‘‘martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo’’, and vowed to avenge his death.
It did not provide any further details on when or how he died.
If confirmed, al-Adnani’s death would be a major blow to the extremist group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq, where the borders of its selfdeclared Islamic caliphate have been steadily eroded in recent months.
Al-Adnani, whose real name was Taha Sobhi Falaha, persistently called for attacks against the West, which paid off in bloody notoriety with the co-ordinated attacks that hit a concert hall, a stadium and restaurants and bars in Paris last November, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.
Al-Adnani was a Syrian who was born in the northern province of Idlib and believed to be in his late 30s. He crossed the border and joined al Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor to Isis, after the 2003 United States-led invasion.
In late June 2014 he formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and demanded allegiance from Muslims worldwide.
A powerful orator, he went on to become the voice of Isis. He released numerous, lengthy audio files online in which he delivered fiery sermons urging followers to kill civilians in nations that supported the US-led coalition against the group.
‘‘If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,’’ al-Adnani said in 2014.
In other speeches he referred to US President Barack Obama as ‘‘an idiot’’ and Secretary of State John Kerry as an ‘‘uncircumcised old geezer’’.
Earlier this year, al-Adnani called for massive attacks during Ramadan – a call that translated into the bloodiest Muslim holy month in recent memory. Attacks by followers of Isis included a nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, the Nice truck attack in France, and a massive suicide bombing in downtown Baghdad.
Al-Adnani also disparaged Saudi Arabia and its influential clerics for failing to rally behind the rebels the Saudi monarchy supports in Syria like they did decades ago in Afghanistan.
In Washington, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook confirmed that a US air strike yesterday targeted al-Adnani in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo.
‘‘We are still assessing the results of the strike, but alAdnani’s removal from the battlefield would mark another significant blow to [Isis],’’ Cook said.
Aleppo is a current focal point of the civil war in Syria, where Isis, Syrian Kurdish forces, Turkey-backed rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are vying for control. The province is frequently struck by US-led coalition air strikes as well as Russian air raids.
Aamaq vowed revenge against the ‘‘filthy cowards in the sect of disbelief’’. It said a generation raised in Isis-held territory would avenge al-Adnani’s death.
Isis has suffered a string of defeats in recent weeks, including in Aleppo province, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels drove its fighters out of the border town of Jarablus last week.
It has also lost some of its most senior commanders and founding members over the past year, including its ‘‘minister of war’’ Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Abu Ali Al-Anbari.