Islamic State confirms the death of its leader and names his successor

MADRID, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Islamic State terrorist group reported on Wednesday the death of its leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, less than a year after he was appointed to the post following the death of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi, during an operation carried out by US special forces in Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The terrorist group has explained that the until now leader would have died in combat and has named Abu al Hussein al Husseini as his successor, as announced by his spokesman, Abu Umar al Muhayir, and confirmed by Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, a agency specialized in monitoring terrorist groups.

No leader of the Islamic State has spoken publicly since the days of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who also died in an operation carried out in October 2019 by special forces in the province of Idlib, near the border with Turkey.

Al Hashimi, named after the death of Al Baghdadi, was a virtually unknown figure compared to others, such as the Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who founded Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2004, from which the Islamic State would later emerge.

Now, after the death of the current leader, whom some media considered captured in May during a raid on his hideout in Istanbul, a range of possibilities opens up regarding the course taken by the new terrorist leader.