Timeline
January 2019
October 2019
- On October 9, the United States took custody of two high-profile British members of ISIL previously held in Syria by Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces. US media reports identified the two as El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey. The two were members of the 4-member execution squad dubbed "The Beatles" by the Western media. They are part of an extremely violent four-man cell that kidnapped and tortured foreigners, including journalists, at the height of ISIL's power in Syria and Iraq. A third member of the group named Mohammed Emwazi, the notorious Jihadi John was killed in a drone attack on 12 November 2015 and the fourth, Aine Lesley Davis is in prison in Turkey.[2][3]
- On October 10, Indonesia's security minister Wiranto was injured after a stabbing attack perpetrated by Syahril Alamsyah, also known as Abu Rara, and his wife Fitri Andriana, both members of the banned Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an ISIL-linked Indonesian terror group.[4] The same group carried out a series of attacks in Jakarta's business district known as the 2016 Jakarta attacks as well as bombings of churches known as the Surabaya bombings in 2018.
- On October 27, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi-born leader and self-declared Caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), killed himself by detonating a suicide vest during the Barisha raid, conducted by the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment and the U.S. Delta Force, in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province.[5] The commander of the United States Central Command, General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., stated that al-Baghdadi also killed two children when he exploded his vest and was buried at sea after being offered Islamic funeral rites.[6] On 31 October 2019, ISIL confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead,
- On October 31, less than a week after the Barisha raid leading to the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was elected by a shura council as the new caliph of ISIL,[7] indicating that the group still considers itself a caliphate despite having lost all of its territory in Iraq and Syria, Al-Hashimi's appointment was supposedly done in accordance with the advice of al-Baghdadi, meaning the new emir was named as a successor by Baghdadi himself.[8]
November 2019
- On November 4, Turkish authorities said they had captured a sister of the dead ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Rasmiya Awad, in the northern Syrian town of Azaz.[9] The authorities hope Awad may provide a trove of intelligence.[10]
- On November 6, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had captured a wife of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, more than a week after Baghdadi killed himself during a raid by US special forces. Al-Baghdadi was known to have four wives, the maximum number one can have under Islamic law at one time.[11]
December 2019
- On 7 December, ISIS claimed the killing of Captain Mohammed Saleh Al Radfani in Aden, Yemen.[12] He died from a gun wound and was a paramilitary security commander from the Security Belt Forces.[13]
References
This page was last edited on 14 February 2024, at 08:01
