Inside the mission that killed Islamic State leader Baghdadi
WASHINGTON • The chopping of blades from eight U.S. military helicopters roused startled residents in northwestern Syria around midnight Saturday, an unusual sound for an area close to the relative quiet of the Turkish border.
Exchanges of gunfire followed for the next several hours until a war plane delivered the final airstrikes, witnesses said. Then, back in Washington, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Something very big has just happened!”
It soon became apparent, as Trump confirmed Sunday morning, that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, was dead.
The story of Baghdadi’s final moments is also one of American intelligence gathering, military force and astonishing warfare technology. The special operations forces who landed in Barisha, Syria, already knew the tunnels under Baghdadi’s compound were mostly dead-ends. Troops brought robotic military equipment to help chase him through the tunnels, but didn’t need it, the president said. And Mr. Trump said he and his national security team watched much of the evening unfold via video streamed into the White House Situation Room.
The hunt for Baghdadi has been an American national security priority ever since the U.S. and its mainly Kurdish allies captured the militants’ last desert holdout in eastern Syria in March.
One former member of Islamic State who was held at a counterterrorism prison in northern Syria told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year that, while incarcerated, he was interrogated by Americans and asked about the whereabouts of senior commanders, including Baghdadi. The 18-year-old former fighter said he didn’t know the leader’s whereabouts but that other prisoners were asked the same questions.
During the past few weeks, U.S. officials said, the search came into sharper focus as intelligence revealed Baghdadi’s location. “We had him scoped,” Mr. Trump said.
The president said the U.S. relied mostly on its own intelligence to find the ideological leader of Islamic State. “We didn’t need very much help,” he said.
But an official in the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said the agency had provided the U.S. with the coordinates of Baghdadi’s location based information gathered from captured associates of Baghdadi’s. Turkish and Kurdish military leaders also said they had intelligence concerning Baghdadi.
U.S. officials wouldn’t say how much the influx of intelligence helped, but lawmakers praised the cooperation. “We can never do this stuff alone — we have to have allies and friends,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R, Texas) a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Trump described a period of uncertainty that followed the first confirmation of Baghdadi’s location in northwestern Syria, saying the administration believed at one point the Islamic State leader might change locations. The leader of a group responsible for beheadings, rapes and the displacement of thousands of people had become skilled at remaining undetected: He stockpiled large amounts of cash, frequently changed locations and avoided using cellphones, Trump said.
But Baghdadi didn’t relocate, and U.S. officials received additional confirmation on his location. The mission was on.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper delayed his return trip to Washington from Brussels so he could call in to a secret meeting of top military officials taking place in a secure Pentagon facility known as the “tank.” At that meeting, top officials were putting the final touches on a plan to go after the Islamic State leader, according to U.S. officials.
On Saturday at 5 p.m. in Washington, Trump entered the White House Situation Room with Vice President Pence and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, among others. He said the decision to approve the mission — whether to put “a large number of brilliant fighters” at risk — was difficult.
Russia, Turkey, Iraq and Syria were given advance warning that U.S. troops would be in the area, but weren’t told why, Trump said.
A U.S. command and control base had been set up in Erbil, Iraq, to allow military officials to oversee the operation, a U.S. official said. Before midnight Iraq time Saturday, eight U.S. military helicopters loaded with U.S. special-operations force team members, equipment and military dogs left from western Iraq.
They flew across Syria by remaining at least partly in Turkish territory, the U.S. official said, re-entering Syria and making their way to Barisha, near Idlib. Along the 70-minute flight, Mr. Trump said, they were fired upon by “random people.” U.S. officials said they were most likely local fighters unaware of the larger mission.
The helicopters retaliated, repelling the fire.
When they reached the compound where Baghdadi was hiding, the helicopters landed and the troops stormed the building, engaging fighters on the ground, U.S. officials said. The president said they blew a hole through a wall in the compound and the troops were greeted by a round of gunfire.
“They blasted their way in, and then all hell broke loose,” the president said.
Trump said there were many casualties on Baghdadi’s side, while declining to say how many died.
Amid the firefight, a U.S. military dog chased Baghdadi who attempted to escape through a series of tunnels along with three of his children, Trump said. Baghdadi detonated his suicide vest at the end of one closed-end tunnel while “whimpering, crying and screaming all the way,” the president said. The president declined to say how he knew Baghdadi was whimpering.
Although the tunnel caved in on Baghdadi and the three children, troops were able to collect DNA samples which were tested on-site by lab technicians traveling as part of the missions. Some of pieces of Baghdadi’s body were “brought back” by U.S. troops, the president said.
A field analysis on the remains in the tunnel provided for a preliminary conclusion that the person who died there was Baghdadi. A conclusive analysis was completed overnight, corroborating that conclusion.
The troops were in the compound for about two hours in all, Trump said.
“The last thing we heard was the war plane carrying out the final airstrikes,” said a resident in the Syrian town of Sarmada, near the site of the raid, who identified himself only as Sharif.
Eleven children were captured from the compound where Baghdadi died, along with a small group of adults, Trump said. Trump declined to say how many adults were apprehended, adding only that there were more dead than alive. The special forces then boarded the helicopters for a flight away from the area. When the helicopters safely landed, the president posted his provocative and cryptic message on social media at 9:23 p.m.
Videos shared by local activists and said to be from the aftermath of the operation showed a charred vehicle, dead bodies and a demolished house. The Wall Street Journal couldn’t verify the footage independently.
The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed dead after being targeted by a U.S. military raid in Syria.;
President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, to announce that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed during a US raid in Syria. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed dead after being targeted by a U.S. military raid in Syria. ;
U.S. officials said
Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019 that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, was the target of an American raid in Syria and
died in an explosion.
In this image released by the White House, President Donald Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence, second from left, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, left; Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, second from right, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, right, on Saturday in the Situation Room of the White House monitoring developments in the U.S. Special Operations Forces raid that took out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
People look at a destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group. President Donald Trump says Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after a U.S. military operation in Syria targeted the Islamic State group leader. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People look at a destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group. President Donald Trump says Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after a U.S. military operation in Syria targeted the Islamic State group leader. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People look at a destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group. President Donald Trump says Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after a U.S. military operation in Syria targeted the Islamic State group leader. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People look at a destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, on Sunday after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group. President Donald Trump says Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after a U.S. military operation in Syria targeted the Islamic State group leader.