Who is Al Baghdadi? What does the world know about the leader of the Islamic State. Conversation with an American hostage
The wife of the mysterious leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, the self-proclaimed “Caliph of all Muslims” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, left him. And she literally left - from IS-controlled territory. This news sheds some light on the personal life of the man who leads the most sinister terrorist group of our time. Nevertheless, very little is still known about al-Baghdadi’s personality, not only among citizens of Western countries, but also among the citizens of the caliphate itself. Lenta.ru studied the facts of the biography of the leader of world jihadism and tried to understand how a ruthless extremist grew from a quiet child.
Childlike steps of the future caliph
The future caliph Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri was born in the Iraqi city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, in 1971. Power in the country then belonged to the pan-Arab secularist left-wing Baath party.
Ibrahim's father, Awwad, was actively involved in the religious life of the community and taught at the local mosque. It was there that his son took his first steps as a theologian: he gathered the neighborhood boys, and they read the Koran together. It is said that Ibrahim was a quiet child and spent a lot of time honing his skill in reciting religious texts.
The Baathists did not actively encourage the spread of religion, but they did not fight it either. Some of Ibrahim's relatives even joined the ranks of the ruling party. Two of the future caliph's uncles worked in President Saddam Hussein's intelligence services; one of his brothers was an officer in Saddam's army, and another brother died in the Iraq-Iran war. Ibrahim himself was too young at the beginning of the conflict to take part in it.
Among Ibrahim’s relatives there were also supporters of Salafist ideas - according to some sources, his father was also a Salafist. The secular regime of Saddam Hussein tried to limit the influence of radicals and attract them to its side, for which purpose the Saddam University of Islamic Sciences was opened in Baghdad in 1989.
Since 1993, the Iraqi leader began a “return to faith campaign”: nightclubs were closed in the country, public consumption of alcohol was prohibited, and Sharia rules were introduced to a limited extent (for example, hands were cut off for theft). Over the course of several years, Saddam Hussein donated 28 liters of his own blood to write a copy of the Koran placed in one of the mosques in the capital.
Saddam Hussein encouraged the cult of his personality and feared the strengthening of radical Islamists - he saw them as the main threat to his power.
From lawyer to extremist
When it's time to decide higher education, Ibrahim al-Badri tried to enter the University of Baghdad for Faculty of Law, but he was let down by his poor knowledge of English and unimportant grades. As a result, he went to the Faculty of Theology, and then entered the University of Islamic Sciences, where he received a master's degree in qiraats (schools for public recitation of the Koran).
While studying for a master's degree, at the insistence of his uncle, Ibrahim joined the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood. This supranational Islamist organization advocated the creation of religious Islamic states, but in most countries its followers chose cautious tactics and did not support armed struggle with the authorities. Al-Badri such ideas seemed too soft - he called their followers people of words, not deeds, and the future caliph quickly joined the most radical members of the organization.
After receiving his master's degree in 2000, al-Badri settled in a small apartment in a poor area of Baghdad, next to a mosque. In four years, he managed to change two wives and become the father of six children. The future leader of the Islamic State made a living by teaching children to read the Koran and calling the faithful to prayer. There was a football club at the mosque, and al-Badri played so successfully that he earned the nickname “our Messi” among local residents. He also supervised Islamic piety: for example, according to the testimony of neighbors, he once saw dancing men and women, Ibrahim resolutely demanded to stop the outrage.
Jihad Academy
In 2004, al-Badri was arrested by the Americans - he went to visit a friend who was wanted. The future caliph ended up in the Camp Bucca filtration camp, where the occupation administration kept suspicious Iraqis. They were not prohibited from performing religious rituals, and the future caliph skillfully took advantage of this: he gave lectures on religion, conducted Friday prayers and gave instructions to the captives in accordance with his interpretation of Islam.
Prisoners said that Camp Bucca had become a veritable academy for jihadism. “Teach him, instill an ideology and show him the further path, so that at the time of liberation he becomes a blazing flame,” - this is how one of the former prisoners described the strategy of Islamic theologians inside the filtration camp in relation to each new arrival.
Prisoners at Camp Bucca during a group prayer.
The guards identified potential leaders and tried to separate the nascent terrorist cells into different cells, but failed to discern the future Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the quiet and inconspicuous Ibrahim al-Badri. “He was a bad guy, but he wasn’t the worst of the worst,” says former Camp Bucca guard Sergeant Kenneth King. According to him, al-Badri was not even transferred to the section for dangerous suspects.
Al-Badri was released in 2006. “Well, guys, see you in New York,” the future caliph said goodbye to the guards. “It sounded peaceful, like, 'We'll see you when the opportunity arises,'” King admitted.
Career Khalifa
After his release, al-Badri contacted al-Qaeda in Iraq, who advised him to move to Damascus. In the Syrian capital, he had the opportunity, in addition to working for terrorists, to complete his dissertation. Then a conflict began in the ranks of the jihadists, which led to the transformation of the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda into the brutal Islamic State of Iraq.
Al-Badri, who has a serious religious education, came in handy: he was appointed head of the religious direction in the Iraqi “provinces” of the organization. The caliphate did not have any territory at that time, so Ibrahim was mainly involved in developing a propaganda strategy and making sure that the militants strictly followed religious instructions.
In March 2007, he returned to Baghdad, where he defended his dissertation and became a doctor of Koranic studies. His scientific success attracted the attention of the then leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who made al-Badri head of the Sharia Committee - that is, responsible for all religious work of the terrorist organization.
In 2010, Masri was killed and IS was de facto beheaded. Then Haji Bakr came to the aid of the future caliph, former officer Saddam Hussein's intelligence services and chief strategist of the Islamic State of Iraq. He could not become the leader of the organization - his reputation as a former intelligence officer was compromised, and then Haji Bakr, through manipulation and persuasion, achieved the election of the authoritative theologian al-Badri to the post of temporary leader of the group. Bakr hoped that he could control the new "emir". He partially succeeded - people from Iraqi intelligence during the Hussein era were appointed to key positions.
In 2013, the group began participating in hostilities in Syria and changed its name to the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIS), and after the blitzkrieg of the summer of 2014, it shortened it to “Islamic State.” At the same time, Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri declared himself caliph, finally turning into Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“I was appointed to lead you, but I am not the best among you. If you see me acting righteously, follow me. If you see me acting unrighteously, give me advice and guide me. If I disobey Allah, do not listen to me,” he declared in his first public speech as the ruler of a quasi-state. This was a paraphrase of the statement of the Righteous Caliph Abu Bakr, the first leader of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Companions of Abu Bakr
Little is known about the first two wives of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with whom he lived until 2004 - he kept them at home and did not show them to the public. The “wife” who escaped at the end of February 2016 is called Diana Kruger; the girl was helped to break free by her two friends. The Iraqi press reported that al-Baghdadi sent a squad of thugs in pursuit of the women, but their search was unsuccessful.
In the caliphate, Diana was responsible for organizing the lives of women: in particular, she formulated the rules of their behavior according to the norms of Sharia and led the women’s “morality police,” whose units ensured that representatives of the fairer sex did not appear in public without the accompaniment of men (husband or male relatives) and in insufficiently modest clothing. The police acted in accordance with the brutality of the entire IS: for example, in January of this year for inappropriate appearance Syrian girl beaten to death.
Kruger’s work also had a combat component: she headed a full-fledged educational institution in Kirkuk, Iraq, where student students were trained to become suicide bombers. Al-Baghdadi and German Kruger got married in October 2015; What caused the newlyweds’ discord is still unclear.
One of al-Baghdadi's most famous wives was Saja al-Dulaimi, nicknamed the "califessa" for her influence in the jihadist world. The marriage of al-Baghdadi and al-Duleimi was short-lived - it was concluded in 2009 and lasted only three months - but it brought considerable benefits to the caliphate.
After a divorce (Iraqi tribal customs make it quite easy to separate from a wife), she moved with her sister and father to Homs, Syria, where in March 2014 she was captured by troops friendly to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Soon, Jabhat al-Nusra militants exchanged her and 149 other women and children for 13 captured Greek Orthodox nuns.
Frame: Al Jazeera video
Sajja al-Dulaimi with children during an exchange for Lebanese soldiers.
“Our sister, the wife of Sheikh Abu Bakr, may Allah bless him, was freed by us. We did this because it was our duty,” one of the group’s “emirs” wrote on Twitter at the time. Abu Bakr himself did not comment on this event.
After her release from captivity, Sajja went with the refugees to Lebanon, but then repeatedly crossed the border of the two countries, hiding jewelry and money received from sponsors of terrorist groups under her burqa. Without hiding her face under the hijab, she publicly called on women from all over the world to go to ISIS, promising them faithful husbands and a decent life. Her image contrasted so much with the typical image of a disenfranchised woman in radical Islamist society that she was called an “honorary man.”
At the beginning of 2015, she was captured for the second time - the Lebanese authorities detained her with her small children (one of them, a five-year-old girl, is her daughter from Abu Bakr) while crossing the border. Al-Baghdadi again did not comment on this, and al-Duleimi and the child were again released by Jabhat al-Nusra militants: they and 12 other people were exchanged for captured Lebanese soldiers.
It is known that Abu Bakr also considered the captive American social worker Kayla Muller, captured in 2013, to be his “wife” and raped her until she died (according to the IS version, from an American airstrike, according to the US version, at the hands of). Along with Müller, there was a Yazidi girl in captivity who managed to escape from ISIS; according to her stories, Abu Bakr had three “official” wives at that time.
The price of a terrorist
The American authorities are promising $10 million for the head of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: on the State Department website rewardsforjustice he is called by the pseudonym Abu Dua. Despite the fact that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is valued at almost twice as much in monetary terms, after the death of Osama bin Laden, it is the self-proclaimed caliph and leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr, who is considered today “terrorist number one.”
"Islamic State", "Al-Qaeda" and "Jabhat al-Nusra" are recognized as terrorist organizations and are banned in Russia.
IN Lately There are regular reports in the media about the destruction of “ISIS leaders”, which have become more frequent due to the beginning of Russian participation in the conflict. Who really leads the Islamic State and is not just an ordinary (or extraordinary) warlord?
Do you remember how it all began?
The history of the Islamic State (banned in the Russian Federation by decision of the Supreme Court) began in 2006. Taking advantage of the chaos that reigned in Iraq after the US-led international coalition invaded there three years earlier, al-Qaeda organized a “conference” of radical Sunni Islamist groups. Sunnis in Iraq at that time were (and continue to be) a minority relative to the Shiites, but the overthrown Saddam Hussein and many of his associates belonged to them. As a result of this “founding congress”, the “Islamic State of Iraq” (ISI) emerged from the local al-Qaeda cell.
The first leaders were Abu Umar (Omar) al-Baghdadi(not to be confused with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, discussed below), who became the head of the new organization, and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who received the second most important post of military leader. Let us immediately make a reservation that here and further, in order to avoid confusion, those names of terrorists by which they are best known will be used - and these are usually nicknames, call signs, names taken for religious purposes, and so on. Firstly, real names are usually quite lengthy and rarely used among militants, and secondly, without knowledge Arabic understanding this is a tedious and pointless task.
So, little is known about Abu Umar al-Baghdadi. According to some sources, he was an officer in Saddam Hussein's army; according to others, he did not exist at all. In any case, in 2007 and 2010 there were reports of his death, and after the second date he was not announced or appeared anywhere - so 2010 is considered the year of his death. The Egyptian al-Masri died at the same time as him. There is no particular doubt about its existence. He began his “career” in another large radical group, the Muslim Brotherhood (also banned in the Russian Federation and a number of other countries), then went over to al-Qaeda and eventually headed its Iraqi cell, which, we recall, became the basis IGI.
Same with Syria
By 2010, IGI was virtually defeated, but it managed to find a second wind. Interestingly, both of its new leaders are the Supreme Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and military leader Abu Ayman al-Iraqi- were by this time released from the American concentration camps on the territory of Iraq. Moreover, al-Baghdadi, like al-Iraqi, was initially in the largest camp, Camp Bucca, and, according to official data, left it back in 2004. However, the commandant of Camp Bucca, Colonel Kenneth King, is confident that this happened only in 2009, and al-Baghdadi, according to his information, was taken out on an American military transport plane. And before leaving, the future head of the Islamic State said a sacramental phrase to his guards: “See you in New York,” which is what King remembered him for.
Also, since 2010, the ISI has gradually acquired the features of a quasi-state. To date, it has the following leadership structure. The head of the Islamic State is the caliph, who has unlimited power. An advisory body, Shura (Council), operates under him - the members of this improvised and very modest body in number are appointed by the Caliph himself.
The Islamists also have “ministries”: the Military Council, the Intelligence Council (also ensures the safety of the caliph), the Military Assistance Council (helps friendly groups in other countries), the Legal Council (monitors compliance with Sharia and Islamic morality, and is also responsible for recruitment) ,Administrative Council (responsible for developing legislation). There are also the Islamic Directorate of Public Information, which is responsible for propaganda, counter-propaganda and youth work, and authorized advisers to the caliph on various economic and administrative issues.
Local power is exercised by provincial governors, who report to the caliph's governors in Iraq and Syria. TO civil war in Syria, by the way, ISI joined in 2013, becoming an enemy of the government of Bashar al-Assad, but already in February next year fell out with al-Qaeda's local affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front), and officially broke with al-Qaeda. The war in Syria allowed ISI to add Levant to its name - that was the name of the historical region that included Syria and neighboring countries.
Let's fan the world fire
So, let us repeat, ISIS, which last summer officially became just IS, since it now claims not only Iraq and the Levant, but also all traditionally Islamic territories, is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He proclaimed himself caliph and "commander of the faithful" (amir al-mu'minin), thereby laying claim to both political and spiritual power among all Muslims in the world. It is clear that few people recognize these claims, but this is directly related to numerous facts of oath-taking by radical Islamic groups in different countries.
In February-March 2015, reports appeared about the death of al-Baghdadi as a result of airstrikes by the pro-Western coalition, but they were not confirmed. There was a similar message two days ago, on October 12, from the Iraqi Air Force. However, the death of the IS leader was also not confirmed. However, there is information that in March he was seriously wounded and possibly paralyzed. After this, the “acting official” allegedly became Abu Ala al-Afri, a former physics teacher and taxi driver, and later a preacher from Iraq, who was one of the leaders of the local al-Qaeda cell. According to preliminary data, he was killed on May 13 in Mosul as a result of an airstrike.
Until his death in November 2014, the IS military council was headed by the above-mentioned Abu Ayman al-Iraqi, an officer in Saddam’s army. Nothing more is known about him, except that, perhaps, at his instigation, the Islamic State began to quarrel with the Free Syrian Army - an association of rebel groups fighting against Assad, dominated by radicals from the Muslim Brotherhood and which the West calls "moderate" opposition." Al-Iraqi was replaced by Abu Sulayman an-Nasir Lidinillah- an Iraqi or Moroccan who has previously advised the Islamic State on military issues.
The "Press Secretary" and the person responsible for propaganda is Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, born Syrian, for a long time who lived in Iraq and fought against the coalition forces that invaded there in 2003. He was arrested in 2005 and released five years later. In the United States, he is considered one of the most dangerous terrorists; a reward of $5 million has been promised for his head, or at least for information leading to his capture. For comparison, they promise 10 million for al-Baghdadi, and for the leader of al-Qaeda Aymana al-Zawahiri- 25 million
The names of the remaining “ministers” of IS are not reliably known. According to some reports, the Intelligence Council is headed by someone Abu Yousef, a 27-year-old Islamist from Europe, however, judging by his age, background and the fact that he arrived in the Islamic State only a couple of years ago, this is unlikely to be true.
Information about the members of the Shura is also very contradictory. The names that appear in some sources remain empty words, since it is unclear who is behind them. But there is relative clarity with al-Baghdadi’s governors in Iraq and Syria - this, respectively, Abu Muslim at-Turkmani And Abu Ali al-Anbari, both are ethnic Turkomans (Iraqi Turkmens).
The first is a former lieutenant colonel of the special forces of the Republican Guard under Hussein. There is information about his death in Mosul on August 18 from an American airstrike. According to some sources, his death has not yet been confirmed by representatives of the Islamic State; according to others, this was recently done by al-Adnani’s “press secretary”. The second had the rank of major general in the Iraqi army, and from the mid-2000s he quickly climbed the “career ladder” of al-Qaeda. He is also reported to head the Intelligence Council.
Chechen trace
Finally, the most “interesting” for Russia Tarkhan Batirashvili, who became known in the Islamic State as Abu Umar al-Shishani(the last part of the nickname means “Chechen”). Batirashvili has nothing to do with Chechnya as a Russian republic - he was born in Georgia in 1986. His father is a Georgian and an Orthodox Christian, his mother is a Kist (a collective name for Chechens and related peoples living on the territory of Georgia). He worked as a shepherd, was drafted into the army in 2007, and participated in the Georgian war against South Ossetia and Russia in August 2008. In 2010, he went to prison for illegal possession of weapons, where he turned to radical Islam. Having been released early in 2012, he moved through Turkey to Syria and joined ISIS, where he soon became a major field commander.
Took Active participation in the capture of the second largest and most important Iraqi city of Mosul in the summer of 2014, which is still a stronghold of terrorists. In the same year, the first reports of Batirashvili’s death appeared, which were later refuted. In particular, Ramzan Kadyrov announced the liquidation of this “enemy of Islam” on Instagram in November. On October 12 of this year, media reports appeared again that Batirashvili had been killed, but his relatives did not confirm this information.
Militants of the terrorist group “Islamic State”* allegedly confirmed the death of their leader Ibrahim Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This information was disseminated on Tuesday by the independent Iraqi satellite TV channel Al Sumaria, citing a source in Nineveh province.
According to the source, IS militants released a short statement announcing the death of the leader of the terrorist group and naming his successor. However, no details were reported.
Information about the death of al-Baghdadi was also confirmed by the Syrian Center for Monitoring Human Rights. However, we should not forget that the London-based center has a dubious reputation and has been repeatedly caught publishing false information.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense said that it does not have data confirming the information about the death of the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Reuters reports.
- Reuters
According to some reports, talk about the death of the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State al-Baghdadi and the appointment of his “legitimate successor” indicate a serious split in the terrorist organization and an internal struggle for power.
In addition, a source from the Al Sumaria channel reported mass arrests among the caliph’s supporters and predicted the possible beginning of a “bloody factional struggle between members of the Islamic State.”
A member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy of Russia, FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov, believes that the liquidation of al-Baghdadi could significantly affect the financing of the group. He also noted that the destruction of the IS leader is the “logical ending” of the story.
“If they were hunting for him for a long time, they had to get him sometime. However, I do not rule out that he could have died as a result of an internal struggle for leadership. They could kill their own, although it would be preferable for those who were supposed to do it,” RIA Novosti quotes Mikhailov as saying.
Earlier, a number of Iranian sources distributed images allegedly confirming the death of the leader of the terrorist group. In mid-June, the Russian Ministry of Defense began checking information about the likely destruction of al-Baghdadi on May 28 as a result of an airstrike by the Aerospace Forces on the southern outskirts of Raqqa. According to reports, the air raid was carried out after confirmation of information about a meeting of senior members of the Islamic State, in which al-Baghdadi himself participated.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense stated that if information about the death of al-Baghdadi still needs confirmation, then the destruction of the “emir” of Raqqa Abu al-Haji al-Misri and the head of the intelligence services of the “Islamic State” Suleiman al-Shawah, as well as the liquidation of more at least 300 militants can be said with confidence.
Later, the names of al-Baghdadi's possible successors appeared in the media. According to Reuters, citing experts, his place may be taken by one of his assistants and people from Saddam Hussein’s army - Iyad al-Obaidi or Ayyad al-Jumaily. According to the agency, both IS supporters became key aides to al-Baghdadi after the death of his former advisers Abu Ali al-Anbari and Abu Omar al-Shishani as a result of one of the air strikes.
“Jumaili recognizes Obaidi's supremacy, but there is no clear successor: it could be any of them, depending on conditions,” said Hisham al-Hashimi, an adviser to several Middle Eastern governments on IS-related issues.
- Reuters
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is one of the most wanted terrorists in the world. Back in 2011, the US State Department announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture or death. The United States valued only the head of al-Qaeda leader* Ayman al-Zawahiri higher - they were ready to pay $25 million for it. But in December 2016, the American authorities increased the reward for information about the head of the Islamic State to $25 million.
This is not the first report of the death of the IS caliph - since February 2015, the media have reported at least five times the death of al-Baghdadi as a result of an airstrike, shelling, and even poisoning. However, supporters of the terrorist organization regularly denied these data.
Recently, Islamic State militants have suffered one defeat after another, both in Syria and Iraq. Against the background of the successes of government troops and the advance of coalition forces towards Raqqa, the completion of the operation to liberate Mosul was announced in early July. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited northern capital country to officially announce the end of the operation that had been ongoing since October 2016. At the same time, the official representative of the international coalition, Ryan Dillon, said that the complete liberation of Mosul from IS militants could be announced within a few days.
*Al-Qaeda, Islamic State (IS, ISIS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia.
Islamist terrorist groups Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab, Boko-Haram, Taliban - their names are legion. But ISIS remains the most brutal and most dangerous today.
The Islamic State does not enter into negotiations even with the same terrorists hiding behind the banner of the prophet. And it does not participate in competitions for the title of the richest organization in the world - no one knows how much money ISIS has. But experts assure that the treasures of ISIS are countless - these include donations from Islamists from all over the world, and oil smuggling, and trafficking in weapons and people.
The cruelty of jihadists is not even the stuff of legends - everything is in the news. Every week their reports about mass executions of dissenters, insufficient believers and dissidents appear online. Journalists looked at the map of ISIS’s actions and tried to figure out how this group managed to gather so many Islamists from all over the world under its banner in a very short time, and who its official leader, who calls himself after the medieval caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, is.
Unlike the past personification of evil, Bin Laden, his current incarnation, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, is not yet so widely known. And although the whole world is discussing his recent marriage to a German woman, to this day only one video of him is available on the Internet. He, unlike Bin Laden, does not come from the richest Saudi family, his relatives are not seen in business ties with the White HOUSE administration, he did not destroy the “twin towers”, and is not hiding in inaccessible caves in the mountains with the fascinating name Tora Bora . But he is alive. Meanwhile, while the popularity of Abu Bakr himself is only gaining momentum, the evil that he personifies is already quite real and very popular.
"This Al-Baghdadi appeared as if out of nowhere, and it is not clear whether the United States is hunting for him or not. Look at what weapons are still falling into the hands of Al-Baghdadi's people in Iraq to this day. He has British, Israeli weapons, and no one is attacking. To understand who is behind them, you need to understand who benefits from the virtual destruction of nation states - Syria and Iraq," says former US National Security Agency employee Wayne Madson.
The story of how a relatively small militant group of Iraqi Islamists fighting in Syria against Assad under the banner of al-Qaeda, within two years, turned into a powerful structure with ambitions of a new Arab caliphate is vague. The person of the Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raises no less questions. It turned out that eleven years ago he was held in an American prison in Iraq, but then was allegedly released. According to official Pentagon figures, he was kept behind bars for a period of time. more than a year. However former boss of this prison claims that Baghdadi spent five years there and was only released in 2009.
“Some believe that this is sufficient evidence that the Americans worked with him, recruited him, and so on. Based on my observations and analysis of what is happening, I can say that, depending on the Americans and on Saudi Arabia, this is all a myth. This myth is spreading mainly propaganda machine of Iran, which, so to speak, benefits from presenting its opponents as simply hirelings of American imperialism, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and so on, but this contradicts known facts", says the chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia, Heydar Dzhemal.
The rapid transformation of the inconspicuous Islamic activist Ibrahim Al-Badri, released from an American prison, into the leader of the most brutal Islamist military group was accompanied by another process - the emergence of former senior officers of Saddam Hussein's army in the leadership of the organization.
“The fact is that when Saddam’s officers came to power in the ISIS group, they purged the previous leadership. It’s a difficult question who purged whom, either the Americans, or these Saddam guys themselves, but, in general, the former leadership of ISIS was destroyed. And the person who, in fact, is behind the creation of the ISIS group was a former officer of Saddam, who is known as Haji Bakr, he died in January 2014. But, nevertheless, he managed to create this group, he managed to create ISIS, and he found this Al Baghdadi, he pulled him out of there, elevated him and brought him into the shura, into the council of commanders, that is, the main management link of the entire group,” says political scientist, expert on the Middle East Anatoly Nesmiyan.
A photograph taken in Syria when the current caliph was still little known. He's in the second row, to the left of Senator McCain. At that time, some unanimity still reigned among the fighters against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. All of them were generously financed by Washington, their armed forces, recognized by the Americans as moderate, trained at military bases in Jordan and Turkey. It is noteworthy that the future caliph of the bloodthirsty “Islamic State,” who had not yet grown a beard, was considered quite a handshake then some three years ago. Analysts who are inclined to believe that Americans are behind the actions of ISIS to this day are convinced: the sharply increased importance of ISIS, the conflict with al-Qaeda, represented in Syria by the Al-Nusra Front, the replacement of the struggle against Assad with the struggle for influence within the ranks of the opposition and, ultimately, ISIS's summer invasion of Iraq are all the result of serious divisions within the White House and on Capitol Hill.
"The United States has several political goals in this region. One of the most significant is a reshuffle of forces in the Middle East. This is carried out through massacres, not by US forces, but in this case, by the forces of the non-governmental army of the Islamic caliph ISIS. But there is another one political line of a certain group led by Senator McCain. This group seeks, first of all, the overthrow of the Assad regime. Senator McCain is not only an American senator and the head of the opposition, but also a high-level functionary in the US government. Therefore, it is very difficult to reliably establish who is subordinate to whom in this matter. The conflict between these two directions is not a conflict of interests, but a conflict of priorities. Either rebuild the entire Middle East first, or still overthrow Assad. The existence of these two political strategies is obvious,” says French political scientist and orientalist Thierry Meyssan.
It must be admitted that there are indeed many strange things associated with ISIS. Saudi Arabia, whose representatives at one time provided covert support to this formation, is now forced to strengthen its border in this direction, not without reason fearing an imminent attack. It is known that relations between Riyadh and Washington have recently been far from ideal. In addition, since the triumphant entry of Caliph Al Baghdadi’s troops into Iraq, the United States and Iran, at least in this direction, unexpectedly turned from bitter enemies into allies, bringing Obama closer to the desired solution to the problem of the Iranian nuclear project. Iraq itself, without the direct participation of the Americans, was de facto divided into three parts. So, filming the terrible atrocities committed by Islamic State militants is clearly not enough to conclude that American policy in the Middle East has failed.
The actions of the ISIS group amaze the imagination with their cruelty and barbarity. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself “caliph”, but with much greater right he can claim another title - "Terrorist No. 1" Repeatedly in the last couple of years, reports about the destruction of the militant leader have appeared in the media, but each time they have not been confirmed. Al-Baghdadi tried to take increased precautions and did not seek publicity. His runaway wives gave interviews much more often. However, this time the bloody biography of the organizer of the “jihad” can be marked with a bullet point. At first, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the destruction of al-Baghdadi could be said “with a high degree of probability.” And now the Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria, citing a source in the Islamic State*, confirmed the death of al-Baghdadi.
The path from football player to terrorist
The future militant leader Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri (this is the real name of al-Baghdadi) was born in 1971 in the vicinity of Samarra in Iraq. His biography could well have turned out differently. The boy belonged to the Sunni minority; his relatives served in the army under Saddam Hussein. security forces, and my father taught at the mosque.
Al-Baghdadi himself was planning to become a lawyer and tried to enter the University of Baghdad, but was unsuccessful. Then he decided to give preference to religious education and became a master in qiraat (reading the Koran for ritual purposes) at the University of Islamic Sciences. After this, the future al-Baghdadi settled near the mosque and taught children to read the Koran. Then he took up a hobby - football. According to the stories of friends, the future terrorist played quite well.
In 2003, the precarious religious balance in Iraq was disrupted by outside interference. American troops entered the country. They decided to overthrow Saddam Hussein, accusing him of creating and possessing “weapons of mass destruction.”
New pro-American local authorities decided to “democratically” rely on the majority of the population - Shiite Muslims. As a result, the popularity of radical ideas among the Sunni minority grew sharply, and the terrorist underground began to be massively replenished by Sunni security officials expelled from government service.
“See you in New York, guys!”
Al-Baghdadi also joined the Iraqi cell of the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda*.
There he was responsible for religious direction and recruitment of militants. In 2005, the Americans arrested the “political leader” of the terrorists, but then nothing spoke about his future status. Among the other inhabitants of the Camp Bucca filtration camp, al-Baghdadi was considered neither the most dangerous nor the most powerful. He himself leaned more heavily on religion. True, former prisoners later recalled that in the camp, preachers actively instilled radical ideas under the very noses of their guards. The camp administration staff themselves had rather pleasant memories of saying goodbye to al-Baghdadi. As he left Camp Bucca he said:
"Well guys, see you in New York."
Then no one took this phrase as an aggressive hint or threat.
Camp Bucca
And in 2010, al-Baghdadi led the terrorist organization “Islamic State of Iraq”* after the murder of its former leader. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities in Syria, the organization's ambitions spread to the neighboring country. This is how the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” * or ISIS * appeared. The jihadists first gained a foothold in Syria, and in 2014 they captured large parts of northern Iraq. Al-Baghdadi proclaimed a “caliphate” in the territories under his control, and demanded that he himself be called “caliph” from now on.
Photo:livejournal. com
Sexual pleasures of the “true leader”
The militant leader became famous not only for his unprecedented cruelty, but also for his “lovingness.” Even during his law-abiding youth under Saddam Hussein, he was married at least twice and managed to have six children. Since then, stories about his new wives and sex slaves have repeatedly appeared in the media. Moreover, a new portion of revelations usually appeared after the next passion managed to escape. The German Diane Kruger was responsible in the “caliphate” for the behavior of all persons of the weaker sex, and she also headed the Sharia court for women’s affairs. In particular, she made sure that all residents of the controlled territories behaved quite modestly. Either the militants were disappointed in Diana’s abilities on the “moral” front, or something else went wrong, but in 2016 Diana escaped.
Another one also became famous ex-wife al-Baghdadi Saja ad-Duleimi. At the height of her husband’s bloody actions, she and her children went to his enemies in Europe. Hoping to get a permanent home.
“I want to live in one of the European, not Arab countries. I want my children to live and get an education. Even if the mother was married to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a terrorist... Is the child really to blame for this?” - the woman told Swedish journalists.
Al-Baghdadi’s personal life was not limited to communicating with his official wives. The militants have organized entire harems in which they keep sex slaves. The majority of them are girls, including minors, from families of religious minorities. In particular, the Yezidi Kurds. One of them, 16-year-old Zeinat, spoke about how she was forced to spend more than one night with al-Baghdadi.
People were killed and tortured in front of the girls. And when Zeinat tried to escape, she herself was almost killed.
“They beat us all, they left no living space for us. We were almost black from bruises. They beat us with everything they could get their hands on: wires, belts, wooden sticks,” the captive recalled.
Al-Baghdadi, according to her, took a personal part in the massacre. Yazidis, according to jihadists, are “devil worshipers” and do not deserve pity.
6 al-Baghdadi deaths
The leader of ISIS has long been the main target of the intelligence services and armed groups of many countries taking part in the conflict in Iraq and Syria. The Americans first reported about his murder back in 2005, but subsequently the information was not confirmed. The next time the Arab media announced the possible destruction of al-Baghdadi, this happened in February 2015. A month later, representatives of the pro-Western coalition “killed” him again, and the journalists even managed to “transfer” power to Abdurrahman’s successor, Mustafa Al Sheikhlar. However, soon information appeared that the head of ISIS* was only wounded.
In 2016, al-Baghdadi was “killed” a couple more times. First as a result of an airstrike by the Western coalition, then through poisoning.
In the spring of 2017, the command of the Russian group of troops in Syria received information that on May 28, militant leaders were going to hold a meeting on the outskirts of Raqqa. There it was planned to discuss a plan for the withdrawal of jihadists from the surrounded city. The drones confirmed the intelligence data, and the SU-35 and SU-34 aircraft were destroyed command post terrorists. As a result, senior militant leaders, 30 field commanders and about 300 bodyguards were killed.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Oleg Syromolotov emphasized then that information about the death of al-Baghdadi is being verified. Its liquidation, according to the diplomat, will undoubtedly “introduce fear and panic” into the ranks of the militants.
“Based on the experience of defeating the terrorist underground in the North Caucasus, I can say that if this information is confirmed, then it will be possible to state another major success of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the fight against international terrorism,” Syromolotov said.
And now, the information seems to have really been confirmed. If we draw a parallel with the same Al-Qaeda*, then after the death of Osama bin Laden the activity of this terrorist group really began to decline. But even then, there were dozens of diverse and contradictory rumors, gossip, myths, speculation, rumors and versions that the “elusive” Osama was actually alive and was only hiding for the time being... So, even though the “immortal” al-Baghdadi is dead, but terrorists, like a flag, will probably wave his name for a long time to serve their interests.
* An extremist organization banned in Russia.
Alexander Sablin
