Sources reveal details of Daesh’s Baghdadi last hours

Ahmed Soltan

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the militant group Daesh, was killed on Saturday in a U.S. special forces raid in north-western Syria, President Donald Trump announced from the White House on Sunday.

Baghdadi, accompanied by three of his children, detonated a suicide vest, Trump said, adding that no U.S. personnel, other than a dog, were injured.

A number of Syrian sources shared details of Baghdadi’s last hours with The Reference.

The sources said Baghdadi arrived in the Syrian village of Barisha, near the city of Sarmada, Idlib, hours before US forces attacked the place where he was staying.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the largest armed Syrian faction in northern Syria, led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, controls the village of Barisha and the surrounding areas.

According to the information obtained by The Reference, Baghdadi arrived in the village of Barisha in coordination with one of the most prominent leaders of HTS known as Abu Ahmad Hadoud.

Who is Abu Ahmad Hadoud who was responsible for smuggling Baghdadi?

Abu Ahmad Hadoud is considered the second man in HTS and a public security official, a Syrian born in rural Damascus, who left university and joined al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In 2009, he registered with the Knights of the Martyrs Brigades, a military formation affiliated with what was known as Daesh in Iraq, which was responsible for carrying out suicide bombings, but retreated before carrying out the operation that was supposed to blow himself up.

The leadership of Daesh in Iraq transferred him to the Syrian-Iraqi border area with the arrival of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to the post of «Amir of the organization» in 2010, and appointed «Baghdadi» governor of the border.

The leadership of Daesh in Iraq transferred him to the Syrian-Iraqi border as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi positioned himself as Emir of the organization in 2010, and got appointed by Baghdadi as governor of the borders sector within the organization.