Groups had pledged fealty to Isis in recent years as as the terror group grew in influence. Central to the debate is whether to continue with the insurgency that made it such a lethal presence in the region, or to boost affiliates elsewhere in the world. The direction of the organisation is now largely up to a new generation of leaders, who must determine whether to pursue the goals set out by Baghdadi, or set a new course. It has been stripped of all the land it once held and has lost nearly all its founding leaders after more than five years of war.
#Abu bakr death series
Do not celebrate or get arrogant.”īaghdadi’s death in northern Syria, a long way from where it all began for the Islamic State and its forerunners in the deserts of Iraq, was the latest in a series of blows for the group. “Don’t you see that you have become a laughing stock to the world? Your destiny is controlled by an old fool who goes to sleep with one opinion and wakes up with another. “America, don’t you realise that the Islamic State is now at the forefront of Europe and West Africa? It is extended from the East to the West,” it says. It calls on supporters to follow Baghdadi’s directives and threatens western countries. The recording offers no information about the new leader, whose name was not among those mooted in the days since the US raid. Little is known about al-Hashimi, although his last name (al-Qurayshi) suggests that he, as did Baghdadi, claims a lineage to the Prophet Muhammad, a position that offered legitimacy in some quarters.