Following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US-led commando raid, President Donald Trump on Friday said that the United States knows who the ISIS new leader is.
“ISIS has a new leader. We know exactly who he is!” Trump tweeted. US officials did not give any more details.
ISIS earlier confirmed the death of its leader al-Baghdadi in a statement and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi.
ISIS has a new leader. We know exactly who he is!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2019
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However, little is known about Hashimi, whose name was seldom mentioned as a possible successor the multiple times that Baghdadi was falsely reported killed in recent years.
Baghdadi, who led ISIS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, died in a US special forces raid in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday.
ISIS also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir.
The statement said the ISIS group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born ISIS chief’s death and “agreed” on a replacement.