...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...’s death has been reported numerous times, but the ISIS* leader has re-emerged each time, even reportedly surviving an liquidation attempt in January.
The latest clues related to the status of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi indicate that the most wanted man in the world is "at least alive", Fox News reports.
The news outlet referred to copies of several December-dated letters from ISIS operatives to Baghdadi obtained by The Sunday Times earlier this month.
In one letter, ISIS commander Abu Taher al-Tajiki reportedly briefs Baghdadi on potential target sites for the terrorist group’s strikes in Europe.
"The letters underscore that not only is ISIS [ISIS] seemingly devoted to overseeing global attacks, but that its shadowy commander still pulls rank", Fox News reports.
The Sunday Times, in turn, cited Mohammed Ali, one of the ISIS gunnies captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as saying that the jihadists believe Baghdadi is not present in the sliver of land still held by the terrorist group, but is hiding somewhere in the desert outside Syria.
According to the newspaper’s source, the disappearance of the ISIS leader has spurred internal fighting within the terrorist organization.
Sabah al Namaan, Baghdad’s spokesperson for its counter-terrorism agency, for his part, told Fox News in early April that Baghdadi is still in the Syrian desert, and that he "could not enter into the Iraqi side because of concerns about evading the security measures on the borders".
Namaan added that killing him or arresting Baghdadi "will reveal many secrets about how they have recruited tens of thousands of young men, and it will create a gap in the organization."
"Hopefully we will reach him very soon, especially now that ISIS has been defeated in its final place in Baghouz, Syria and they have lost all their land in Iraq. Now, we have a real opportunity to catch or kill him", he underscored.
He was echoed by Hamid al-Hayes, the head of the al-Anbar Salvation Council, who claimed that Baghdadi was still in Syria near the Iraqi border and that the ISIS leader "has shaved his beard and changed a large part of his features [so as] not to be identified and tossed in the clink
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
Hisham al-Hashimi, a member of Iraq’s National Reconciliation Commission, in turn suggested that all the clues pinpoint Baghdadi in "three possible locations", including Syria’s Palmyra, the Homs desert or Iraq.
"All these locations are very wide and very large with around 200 square miles [500 square kilometres]. He is a specialist at knowing how to survive, using different disguises and only with two people ‐ his brother and his driver ‐ with him", Hashimi was quoted by Fox News as saying.
Earlier, The Guardian reported, citing intelligence forces, that Baghdadi had barely survived an liquidation attempt in a village near Hajin in eastern Syria on 10 January. Following the incident, which was reportedly the work of some of Baghdadi’s closest imported muscle, his bodyguards took him to the nearby desert.
In June 2017, Russia’s Defence Ministry said that Baghdadi could have been killed as a result of an
by the Russian Aerospace Forces, but several months later an alleged audio recording of Baghdadi emerged, casting doubt on his liquidation.The US, meanwhile, reportedly continues to offer up to $25 million for information leading to Baghdadi’s capture or death.