USA's Questionable Operation: The Killing of ISIS (ISIS) Leader Qureshi (2)
First Section:
https://strasam.org/analysis-and-reports/analysis/usas-questionable-operation-the-killing-of-isis-isis-leader-qureshi-607
Will the killing of Daesh Leader Qureshi bring the organization to an end?
With an operation carried out by the USA, the words DAESH is used as an abbreviation of the original name of the organization "ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah fil-'Iraq wa ash-Sham". The word ISIS, which is the abbreviation of "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" In English, the abbreviations ISIS and ISIL, which are the abbreviations of “The Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham”, are used for the organization. It was announced to the world by Biden himself. Biden declared in his statements that the operation ended with great success.
In our previous article, we explained that the statements made by the USA did not satisfy us, by examining sentence by sentence what was said. In this article, as implied in the statements made, we will try to answer the allegations that the killing of Qureshi will weaken the organization and bring it to the point of exhaustion. First of all, we think it is useful to talk about al-Qurayshi's biography.
Who is al-Qurayshi?
Al-Qurayshi was born in 1976 in a small town west of Mosul with a predominantly Turkmen population. After primary, secondary and high school education, he studied at the Faculty of Theology of Mosul University. It is also said that he has a master's degree in theology at this faculty. After that, Qureshi served in the Iraqi army.
After the US invaded Iraq, after the Iraqi army was disbanded and the officers who had contact with the Baath party were blacklisted, many officers and soldiers organized and took up arms to fight against the US occupation forces. Qureshi joined this movement as a member of the "Islamic State of Iraq", a branch of the al-Qaeda Terrorist Organization, which laid the foundations of Daesh. He actually served in his own organization in the armed resistance that developed between 2003 and 2004. Qureshi, who emerged during this resistance, soon became one of the important names of the organization.
How Did Qureshi's Fate Change?
The event that changed the fate of Qureshi was his capture by US soldiers in Mosul in 2008. Qureshi, who was captured alive, was sent to Bucca Camp, known as the place where the foundations of DAESH were laid, after his arrest. For some unknown reason it was released in 2009. Qureshi, who left the camp, immediately began to operate within the structuring of the new organization (DEAS).
In 2014, he actively took part in al-Baghdadi's attacks to seize Mosul. After the capture of Mosul, he rose rapidly within the organization and began to be called by nicknames such as "Professor" or "Destroyer". Qureshi, who became more and more famous for his brutality and his resounding acts of terrorism, was also responsible for eliminating those who opposed Baghdadi's leadership during this period.
Massacre of Qureshi and Yezidis:
According to statements made by US officials, Qureshi was also responsible for the massacres of Yazidis in northern Iraq in 2014. He was also a respected leader wherever Daesh operated, from Africa to Afghanistan. But this reputation did not suit him well. Because it entered the wanted list of both Iraqi and US security forces from the top positions and fell into a prey position after DAESH started to lose power.
According to the claim of Iraqi security forces, Qureshi left Iraq in 2017 due to the fear of this situation and fled to Syria and has been living in seclusion ever since. During this time, he never stayed in one place for long so that his location would not be identified, and tried to revive DAESH, which was in the process of decline by changing places frequently. For this reason, the previous ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared him his successor before he died.
Qureshi's Leadership After the Killing of Baghdadi:
Al-Qurayshi became the leader of the organization after Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike in 2019. However, his organization was in the process of disintegration, communication and communication within the organization was interrupted and there was no trace of the old power of the organization. For this reason, Qureshi, who did not feel safe, began to hide even more carefully so that he would not be located and killed in an operation.
The best hiding place is where no one is looking for you. Probably for this reason, he preferred to hide in an unexpected place rather than in areas where his own organization was active. The area where it is hidden is dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as the Al Nusra Front and an extension of Al Qaeda.
HTS and DAESH are two organizations that see each other as enemies. For this reason, Qureshi never left the house where he hid for two years, not only to hide from the Americans, but also not to be detected by HTS. He stayed in an inconspicuous house and did not post any video or voice messages for fear of his location being revealed. Because these publications show the locations of al-Qaeda and DAESH leaders who were previously killed by the USA.
He knew he had been detected.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi followed the rules of secrecy so strictly that even his neighbors did not find out that he was staying in a house next door. Moreover, since the previous Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding in the Idlib region before he was killed, no one expected him to hide in the same area. But still, US intelligence managed to locate the house where he was staying.
US intelligence may have done a great job finding him, but some comments made by US officials that the killing of Qureshi would spell the end of the organization seem a bit exaggerated. Three important terrorist organization leaders, such as al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Iraqi branch of the organization Musab al-Zarqawi, and former DAESH leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, were killed as a result of previous US operations. But their place was immediately filled by new leaders.
These organizations continued their existence by partially restructuring and partially mutating like viruses and giving birth to new versions. Although the death of Al Qureshi was a heavy blow to the organization, it is not possible to say that this will bring the end of the DEASH ideology.
Daesh After Al Qureshi:
However, it is expected that the organization will have a lot of difficulty in leadership. Because the death of Al Qureshi took place at a time when the armed power of DAESH was considerably weakened. His position as a religious authority for ISIS supporters also adds to the significance of his death. It is not easy for DAESH to find a leader with his qualifications.
The most important reason why it is not easy to find a new leader who has both religious authority and military and operational training is that many high-ranking terrorists with leadership potential have been killed in years of conflict. However, DEASH announced its name to the world by choosing its new leader in a short time.
Not much is known about the new leader, Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. It is not yet known whether he will be able to fill the place of his predecessor. However, it is clear that the killing of the leader of the organization was not a very important success as claimed by the USA. Because the organization was able to determine its new leader without any problems or leadership conflicts. For this reason, although it has weakened compared to the past, it seems that it will remain an important element of power in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan from now on.
(To be continued)
