The US-led coalition says Thursday the leadership of the Islamic State group was now “irrelevant” after IS issued an audio message it said was recorded by its chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan’s statement comes after Baghdadi called on Muslims to wage “jihad” in the purported recording released late Wednesday.
“He’s been rendered useless and ineffective, so we’re not too concerned by any comments coming from ISIS leadership,” Ryan says, using another acronym for the jihadist group.
Baghdadi has been pronounced dead on several occasions, but an Iraqi intelligence official said in May that he remains alive in Syrian territory by the Iraqi border. His last purported message was released in September 2017, shortly after forces backed by the US-led coalition expelled IS from its de facto capital of Raqa.
“We believe his leadership is irrelevant,” Ryan tells journalists in a conference call.
“We’re focused on defeating the last remnants of ISIS, so whether he is around or not doesn’t really matter.”
— AFP
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 23, 2018
