Like the Lerna Hydra, the Islamic State group never loses its head for long. The terrorist organization confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurachi, just over a month after the announcement of his death by the United States. And in the process named his successor, according to a press release issued Thursday.
ISIS jihadists have “sworn allegiance to Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurachi, Emir of the Faithful and Caliph of Muslims,” a spokesman for the group said in an audio recording. The recording also confirms the death of the former IS leader, as well as his previous spokesman.
Weakened group
“Recently, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurachi and the official representative of the Islamic State (…) Abu Hamza al-Qurachi were killed,” the new spokesman added. The former ISIS leader blew himself up during a US special forces operation in northwestern Syria, an area under jihadist control, US President Joe Biden said on February 3.
Qurachi, from Tal Afar, 70 kilometers west of Mosul in Iraq, became head of the group in October 2019 after the removal of his predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the same month. The new leader of the Sunni terrorist organization, the third since its inception, is relatively unknown. He is taking over the reins of EI at a time when the group has been weakened by successive US-backed offensives in Iraq and Syria to thwart a jihadist resurgence.
“Mostly a secret presence”
The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by an international coalition, defeated ISIS in Syria in 2019, driving it out of its last stronghold, Baghouz, in Deir ez-Zor province (east).
But the Islamic State “maintains a largely covert presence in Iraq and Syria and is leading a sustained insurgency on both sides of the border between the two countries,” according to a UN report released last year. The jihadist organization will retain “a total of 10,000 active fighters” in these two countries, according to this report.