The killing of Baghdadi
After a five-year manhunt, US special forces last week cornered the fugitive leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a hideout in northwest
Syria. The commandos landed by night from eight helicopters and stormed the compound. Baghdadi fled down a tunnel, and then detonated the suicide vest he was wearing, killing himself and three children. Despite a firefight with Baghdadi’s bodyguards, there were no US casualties. A triumphant Donald Trump gloated over Baghdadi’s death, calling him a “sick and depraved” thug who had died “whimpering and crying and screaming”.
The president thanked America’s former Kurdish allies, as well as Russia, Syria and Iraq for their cooperation. Baghdadi’s identity had been established ahead of the raid by DNA tests on underwear stolen by a Kurdish spy. The Pentagon said his remains were buried at sea.
What the editorials said
All credit to Trump, said The Wall Street Journal. He took a gamble that could have ended in US casualties and failure, and has succeeded in sending an important message to the jihadists: there can be “no victory” for them. It’s certainly a victory for US military ingenuity and planning, said The Times. But it’s only a setback for Isis. The killing of Osama bin Laden dealt a “real blow to the morale of al-Qa’eda”. But the killing of Baghdadi is unlikely to do the same to Isis, as it operates in a far more decentralised way. In fact, shortly before his death, the self-styled “emir” had recast Isis as a global organisation with 14 “provinces” in more than 20 countries.
The big question now, said The Washington Post, is whether the US will retain the capacity to strike against Isis should it re-emerge as a force. The US relied on a disaffected Isis fighter working with Kurdish forces to locate Baghdadi’s hideout, but having ruptured relations with the Kurds, they won’t get such help again. Operations like this last one will from now on become impossible.
What the commentators said
Soon after their invasion of Iraq in 2004, the Americans arrested a young Iraqi but decided to let him go, deeming him just a minor thug. It was “a disastrous mistake”, said The Economist. By teaming up with Saddam Hussein loyalists (intelligence officers and specialists in clandestine warfare), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi went on to transform the militia once known as Islamic State of Iraq into Isis, a group so brutal it was denounced even by its parent, al-Qa’eda. It wasn’t just his brutality that marked him out, said Hannah Smith in The Times. Baghdadi was the exponent of a new brand of violent jihadism. Unlike the dour Osama bin Laden, whose public appearances were confined to grainy videos filmed in a cave, Baghdadi was rotund and media savvy. He wore a designer watch and reportedly travelled in a convoy of luxury cars. Isis videos were slicker and glossier than al-Qa’eda’s; and also shockingly violent. Most important of all, by declaring a caliphate – which at its height governed an area the size of Britain and had its own laws and currency – Baghdadi gave his followers something tangible to fight for, said Ibrahim Al-Marashi on Al Jazeera. It was a magnet for disaffected Sunni Arabs burning with resentment against the regimes in Iraq and Syria, both propped up by Iran-based Shia militias.
Yet for all that Trump may boast about this killing, Baghdadi’s elimination will prove far less significant than bin Laden’s, said Mike Giglio in The Atlantic. Bin Laden was a genuine leader: Baghdadi, after his rise to fame, seldom emerged from hiding. He was widely believed to have lost operational control of Isis years ago. Indeed Isis reportedly already has a new leader in place, said David Gardner in the FT. Far from being a spent force, it retains the loyalty of some 18,000 fighters who have gone to ground “in two rotting states” – Syria and Iraq. And in the vacuum left by US troops, the Kurdish militia which once guarded them is now preoccupied with defending itself. “The stage is set for a third, probably more terrible, reincarnation of Isis.”
What next?
US intelligence officials are now sifting a mass of sensitive information found in Baghdadi’s hideout, which is thought to include plans for future Isis attacks. The compound was destroyed by a US air strike after the raid, to prevent it becoming an Isis shrine.
To keep the momentum against Isis going, US forces are said to be targeting the rest of the Isis hierachy. Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a possible Isis leadership candidate, was killed this week hiding in a moving lorry. Meanwhile, the Isis news agency is continuing to claim credit for attacks across the Middle East.