Iraq News

International coalition says ISIS leadership 'irrelevant'

The international coalition said Thursday (August 23rd) the leadership of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) was now "irrelevant" after ISIS issued an audio message it said was by its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, AFP reported.

Coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan's statement came after al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to wage "jihad" in the purported recording released late Wednesday.

"He has been rendered useless and ineffective, so we are not too concerned by any comments coming from ISIS leadership," Ryan said.

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 international coalition expelled ISIS from Syria's al-Raqa. In Wednesday's recording, he threatened the US and Russia with "horrors".

"We believe his leadership is irrelevant," Ryan said. "We are focused on defeating the last remnants of ISIS, so whether he is around or not does not really matter."

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