Thread by @Rita_Katz

1) The following thread will provide ongoing analysis on the recently announced killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi: what it will mean for ISIS, peculiarities of this news, and how little is known of him.

2) ISIS announced Abu Ibrahim as its leader on October 31, 2019, per its Shura Council, less than a week after death of Baghdadi.

The statement claimed--via the "Qurayshi" in his name--he was from Quraysh tribe, which the Prophet Muhammad was from.

https://twitter.com/Rita_Katz/status/1189924858571952128

3) However, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraysh is only his 'kunya' (nomme de guerre). ISIS never provided a name, never provided a picture, no speeches, nothing. Existed to supporters only by this alias.

What little known of his true identity is from intel reports, investigations

4)Therefore, after Qurayshi was announced as leader, there were contradictory and speculative reports from different directions regarding his real ID. This included some intel agencies latching on to a fake ’Amaq report that falsely ID’d him as Qardash.

https://twitter.com/Rita_Katz/status/1219676420705849345

5)The name that was ultimately accepted, but still not confirmed, was Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, one of the founding members of the group who, as an Islamic scholar, led the enslavement of Iraq’s Yazidi minority. Photo credit: BBC

6) To be clear, ISIS has not yet confirmed Abu Ibrahim's reported death. Will likely take days (if not weeks) before it does.

7) It is very interesting that yet another high-profile ISIS leader was killed in Idlib, a bastion of anti-ISIS rebel groups like HTS. The same province where Baghdadi was killed, less than an hour drive away in Barisha

8) Significant ISIS' leader resided in Idlib, where HTS rules with iron fist. Unlikely HTS didn't know to some extent about him being there. And after it didn't partake/intervene in today's 2 hour confrontation, even more unlikely it wasn't tipped.

9)Footage is circulating that alleges to show the bodies of Qurayshi and his family. If real, it would confirm US reports that he detonated a suicide bomb, given the condition of his body.

10) Interesting how top-ranking jihadi leaders in hiding--Bin Laden, Baghdadi, and now Abu Ibrahim--are almost never found in caves, tunnels, or the like. They seem to always be in comfort, whether in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan or another in Idlib.

11) To be clear, the killing of Abu Ibrahim will not bring about the end of ISIS or blunt its movement. ISIS and al-Qaeda have seen major leadership killings over the years--Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Baghdadi--and endured. Abu Ibrahim's death will be no different.

12)Local media footage shows the aftermath of the US special forces operation targeting Qurayshi. The second floor of the residential property, where he and his family were staying, is blown out, likely due to his suicide detonation.

13) Accounts linked to Idlib reporting that a young girl named "Israa," the only survivor of today's US operation against Abu Ibrahim, is now in the custody of HTS.

These reports do not yet appear to be verified.

14) ISIS supporters' responses to Abu Ibrahim's death resemble those for other leaders: "Even if the Caliph was martyred...this does not mean the end of the State of the Caliphate. Rather, it increases our certainty in the purity of the approach" of ISIS.

ent.siteintelgroup.com/Jihadist-Threa…

15) History has shown a jihadi leader's death—even a "caliph"—will not kill the movement. As I told @wrightr, if deaths of charismatic leaders like Zarqawi didn't end it, “Why should we expect the death of a faceless, voiceless figure like Abu Ibrahim to?”
newyorker.com/news/daily-com…