Spokesman’s Death Will Have Islamic State Turning to Its ‘Deep Bench’
WASHINGTON — The reported death of the Islamic State’s senior propagandist and strategist, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, in an American drone strike in northern Syria on Tuesday casts in sharp relief the immediate challenge the terrorist group faces in replacing one of its pivotal founding members.
The attack, carried out by a military Reaper drone, also underscores the progress the military’s most elite Special Operations commandos and the Central Intelligence Agency have made in the conflict’s two years by using information from spies on the ground and sensors in the sky to target a growing number of Islamic State leaders.
The American-led coalition has killed about 120 important Islamic State officials and operators, including about a dozen of the group’s top leaders, according to the Pentagon.
Still, the Islamic State has proved to be remarkably resilient, American officials and counterterrorism specialists say, noting that the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has succession plans to replace even its top leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, should he be killed.
“There’s a deep bench,” said William McCants of the Brookings Institution, the author of “The ISIS Apocalypse.”
In the coming days, Mr. Baghdadi is likely to meet with his shura, or council of advisers, in Raqqa, the group’s self-proclaimed capital in Syria, to pick a replacement for Mr. Adnani, a 39-year-old Syrian, who had been believed to be Mr. Baghdadi’s heir apparent.
Among the leading candidates to replace Mr. Adnani is Turki al-Binali, 31, one of the most senior clerics of the Islamic State, who is believed to have been appointed the group’s chief mufti, said Cole Bunzel, a doctoral candidate at Princeton who has been researching Mr. Binali’s work.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage
Russia Claims Credit for Killing Senior ISIS Leader in Syria AUG. 31, 2016
THE INTERPRETER
Does Killing Terrorist Leaders Make Any Difference? Scholars Are Doubtful AUG. 30, 2016
Senior ISIS Strategist and Spokesman Is Reported Killed in Syria AUG. 30, 2016
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
A native of Bahrain, Mr. Binali is considered a prodigy who studied under some of the top leaders in the jihadi pantheon, including Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, who is regarded as one of the most influential Al Qaeda ideologues.
“Even more important than that is that he is an extremely talented speaker, orator — kind of like Adnani,” said Mr. Bunzel, who wrote a Brookings Institution paper on the ideology of the Islamic State.
As early as 2013, Mr. Binali is believed to have traveled to join ISIS in Syria, where he began producing some of the group’s most influential theological treatises which laid the foundation for the group’s future actions.
Continued: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/middleeast/syria-isis-adnani.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0
This was actually a big kill, getting al-Adnani, it even made the hourly radio report and the Russians took responsibility as well which our Government seems to say is a lie. (
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/middleeast/russia-claims-credit-for-killing-senior-isis-leader.html )
But as shown above, they keep on coming. I couldn't resist the headline, apparently the Brookings Institute is who said "deep bench" per the article.
Scholars doubt killing terrorist leaders makes much of a difference:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/world/middleeast/syria-killing-terrorist-leaders.html
