ISIS Decapitated

Trump is on TV now, confirming it. Earlier from Stacy McCain: U.S. Special Operations Raid Kills ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

The identification is still tentative:

A “high value ISIS target” believed to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by U.S.-led forces in Idlib, Syria, a well-placed military source told Fox News on Saturday night.
The U.S. military cannot yet confirm the identity of the deceased target.
But at 9:23 p.m. Saturday, President Trump posted a Twitter message hinting at “very big” news.
Soon after, the White House issued a statement that major news would be announced from the White House at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Newsweek reported late Saturday that Baghdadi was killed during a special operations mission that President Trump approved about a week ago.
In September, an audio recording purportedly by Baghdadi included a call for members of the extremist group to use any means necessary to free Muslims who were being detained “by Crusaders and their Shiite followers.”
The U.S. had reportedly posted a bounty of $25 million for information leading to the capture of Baghdadi.

We got our money’s worth, apparently.

Update: @Newsweek can report Baghdadi’s two wives killed in operation. Children were not harmed. A small firefight broke out when U.S. Special Operations arrived. BaghdadI detonated a suicide vest when he could not escape. This article is updating. #Syria https://t.co/Fpr1dOSWBV

— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) October 27, 2019

Trump confirms the suicide vest, and describes Al-Baghdadi as going out crying. No US soldiers killed or wounded, one dog hurt, and brought home alive.

From Ace,

Wanted to add: There is a claim by some Muslims that if there is a Caliph declared, then it is the duty of all Muslims to join it, including as jihadis.

This was a major part of ISIS' propaganda for recruitment, that the fact of a (claimed) Caliphate meant all Muslims were obligated to come fight for it.

But if there's no Caliph, there is no such obligation.

So al-Baghdadi had a tremendous value to the terrorist state as a cult figure. Again, one that is not replaced merely by advancing the next man up the chain.

I’m hearing somebody called Al-Baghdadi may have been killed tonight. My condolences to Ilhan Omar if this was one of her husbands or married boyfriend/campaign workers.

— Kat Piexe (@KPiexe) October 27, 2019