Jordanian Paper Warns of ISIL Revival in Iraq by Abu Yahya al-Iraqi

TEHRAN (defapress)- A Jordanian paper revealed that the ISIL terrorist group has started attempts to reconvene and recruit members in Iraq under the supervision of one of its notorious commanders.

News ID: 68758

Date: 19 February 2018 - 18:00

The Arabic-language Amman newspaper reported that Abu Yahya al-Iraqi, one of the notorious ISIL ringleaders, wants to revive the terrorist group in Iraq again.

The daily quoted informed Iraqi sources as saying that al-Iraqi has secretly formed an armed group in Wadi Hawaren region in Western al-Anbar and plans to made a sudden declaration of its existence.

The report came days after dissident-affiliated websites in Syria claimed that ISIL's Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive but is in deteriorating health conditions, leaving the terrorist group's commanders in serious disputes over appointing his successor.

The Syrian Arabic-language al-Watan daily quoted militant-affiliated websites as claiming earlier this month that Abu Bakr Baghdadi has been suffering from a severe illness, adding that Baghdadi's critical health condition has kept him away from media.

The daily further said that Baghdadi is suffering from advanced diabetes, adding that ISIL commanders are in row over who should be his successor.

The ISIL commanders have reportedly had an important meeting to appoint Baghdadi's successor but the meeting has failed due to wide rifts over the nationality of new ISIL leader.

The sources further said that the Iraqi commanders of the ISIL are asking for an Iraqi successor for Baghdadi but the Syrian and Saudi commanders of the terrorist group are showing strong opposition.

Well-informed Syrian sources reported last month that al-Baghdadi was living together with a number of his forces in a region in Eastern Deir Ezzur that was under the US forces' control.

The Arabic-language website of Sputnik quoted Deputy Head of the Syrian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Amar al-Assad as saying that a group of ISIL militants were deployed East of Khabour that was under the control of the US forces, adding that it seemed that Abu Bakr Baghdadi was living normally in Khabour region under the support of the US forces.

The Arabic Sputnik further said that the US was organizing alternative scenarios for undermining the Syrian Army achievements against terrorism, adding that Washington was investing on the remaining pockets of ISIL terrorists.

Washington has openly announced support for such terrorists, planning to use them in a newly-established militant force known as the Nation Army.

The ISIL terrorist group claimed in a statement last week that al-Baghdadi was to return to Iraq soon, a move seen by analysts as a last ditch effort to boost the morale of the remnants of the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

The Arabic-language Asharq al-Awsat daily reported that the ISIL statement said that al-Baghdadi was alive and would return to Iraq in the near future.

"The Asharq al-Awsat report seems to be only a last bid in despair to boost the morale of the ISIL terrorists in the deserts of Eastern Syria who have been entrapped by the Syrian army and its allies," Political Analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm said.

The report on the return of the ISIL ring leader to Iraq came as previous reports had declared that al-Baghdadi in the US custody at a base in Syria.

Official Representative of the International Human Rights Committee in the Middle East Haitham Abu Saeed confirmed last week reports that al-Baghdadi was alive and was in the custody of the US forces in Syria.

Abu Saeed announced in a statement that al-Baghdadi is at T2 Badiyeh (desert) base, adding that he was captured in a heliborne operation of the US commandoes on April 18, 2017.

He further said that a sum of 50 US commandoes were present in the hunting operation of ISIL chief.

"Reports on Baghdadi's capture by the US forces had been previously released, but some did not want to believe in our reliable information about Baghdadi's fate at that time," Abu Saeed added.

The Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties.

Meantime, a Syrian source told the Turkish-language Yeni Şafak daily that al-Baghdadi was captured in Iraq by the US and was then brought to Syria’s al-Karamah region.

The source, who was previously a militant part of Jund al-Aqsa, told the daily that al-Baghdadi was first taken to the US base in Ra'as al-Ein and then to a US base in al-Hasaka-Rmeilan.

The source added that apart from Baghdadi, seven other top ISIL officials were a part of the group (captured by the US) and that one of them was an Iraqi national and the others were from outside of Syria and Iraq.

Spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry General Yahya Rasoul said earlier that al-Baghdadi was alive, adding that al-Baghdadi was hidden somewhere at Iraq-Syria border.

General Rasoul said that the Iraqi intelligence has found evidence proving that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is in a sleeper cell of the ISIL terrorists at Iraq-Syria border.

He further said that sleeper cells of the ISIL were present in desert regions at Iraq-Syria borders, adding that based on intelligence al-Baghdadi was moving from a cell to another in the region.

General Rasoul added that al-Baghdadi was hidden in a region between the Iraqi border town of al-Qa'em in Anbar and the Syrian town of Albu Kamal near the Euphrates River.

Also, one of the commanders of the Iraqi popular forces of Hashd al-Shaabi said in late November that Leader of the ISIL terrorist group is in the US forces' custody in an unknown venue.

The Arabic-language al-Sumeriyeh news quoted Jabar al-Ma'amouri as saying that ISIL Chief was in the US military forces' custody, adding that the US forces would never kill al-Baghdadi unless in a Hollywood-like scenario.

He stressed that people around the world rest assured that the US played a crucial role in the creation of the terrorist groups in last decades, and unfortunately some of the Arab nations embarked on providing financial support for such terrorist groups.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri), also known as Abu Dua, was born in 1971 in the city of Samarra in Iraq.

According to media reports, al-Baghdadi was brought up in a religious family. His relatives were famous preachers and specialists of the Arabic language, rhetoric and logic. He received a PhD in Islamic law from the University of Baghdad.

Al-Baghdadi was proclaimed the caliph of ISIL, a "caliphate" created on the territories ISIL managed to seize in Syria and Iraq in late June 2014.

Contradictory reports have surfaced the media on the fate of Al-Baghdad in recent years, while some claim that he has been killed in attacks in Iraq or Syria, others say that he is still alive and on the move.

Reports of al-Baghdadi’s death repeatedly appear in the world media. His death was reported in November 2014, April 2015, June, October and December 2016 and January 2017.

Arab media outlet reported early November that al-Baghdadi is still alive, adding that the terrorist group's ring leader has been sighted by eyewitnesses in one of the battlefields in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

The Arabic-language Elam al-Harbi reported that al-Baghdadi was sighted alive in one of the battlefields near the newly-freed town of Albu Kamal at the border with Iraq.