PUNJAB EXPRESS NEWSPAPER 3 2 NOVEMBER 2019
OPERATION
OBLITERATION
How US Delta Force cornered ISIS leader
I T WAS shortly after
midnight in the
remote village of Barisha
that residents
heard a familiar
noise coming from
above. The whir of rotor
blades in the darkness signalled
something was coming,
something military –
which, in these parts, usually
brings death.
Sure enough, within minutes the
sound of bullets piercing the air
followed. But this was no usual
firefight, with those brandishing
automatic weapons on the ground
severely outgunned by an enemy
they had not been expecting. For
the footsoldiers still loyal to the
Islamic State terror group were
caught by surprise by the crack
American team descending upon
their high-profile prize – Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the world’s most
wanted man.
Five years after he had launched
his self-styled ‘caliphate’, and
brought a new wave of terror to
the globe, the net was finally closing
on the IS leader.
Al-Baghdadi blew himself up,
along with three of his children,
during the raid.
CAPTURE OR KILL
Being played on a live feed to
those back in the White House, 'as
though watching a movie', according
to President Donald Trump,
the helicopter gunships circled,
taking small arms fire but delivering
their far more devastating
riposte. Some hovered in the air,
laying down a cover of fire underneath
which a crack team of elite
Delta Force commandos and
Rangers could slip to the floor
safely, landing outside Baghdadi's
compound on the edge of the village.
Armed with highly-trained
dogs and a robot to withstand suicide
attacks, the 70-strong team
was ready for a bloodbath. Capture
or kill ... either option had
been authorised.
TRUMP LOOKS ON
When Trump arrived on Saturday
to watch the operation in realtime,
it came four days after he
had given the green light, with
several other opportunities
aborted at the last minute.
Moments after he was in place, at
5pm, the US helicopters lifted off
from their air base in Iraq and flew
some 500 miles over 'very very dangerous
territory', a journey that
lasted just over an hour. The
teams had to cross Russian, Syrian
and Turkish airspace to reach
their objective.
TROOPS STORM IN
Fearing a booby-trapped front
door, the elite soldiers made their
own opening, blowing holes into
the wall of Baghdadi's den. Two
CRUEL BUT POPULAR NEW LEADER
'wives', both wearing suicide vests
which did not detonate, were
killed in the ensuing firefight,
along with a large number of
Baghdadi's 'fighters and companions'.
As they cleared the building
carefully, tracking room by room
in the darkness, an Arabic speaker
called out, urging Baghdadi to
give himself up. But the terrorist
who called for death to the West
ran, drawing Delta Force deeper
into the compound they had studied
from plans. As the team went
further, they helped 11 children
get out alive, while a group of IS
extremists surrendered. Once the
compound had been emptied of
others, the US troops and their
dogs chased Baghdadi into an
underground tunnel, taking three
children with him. The soldiers
knew it was a dead end and there
was no escape, so proceeded
slowly, sending in their highlytrained
canines.
TARGET DOWN
It was at that point that Baghdadi's
murderous reign came to an
end as he detonated his suicide
vest, killing himself, his young
hostages and bringing much of
the tunnel down upon them.
HIDEOUT BLITZED
They grabbed every computer,
every phone, every bit of paper
they could find in the hope it will
bring them closer to tracking
those still loyal to IS and putting
an end to them once and for all.
Two hours after, the team was
back in the air, being whisked to
safety, heading out of Syria.
ISIS'S new leader is believed to
be a former officer in Saddam
Hussein's military who forged
an alliance with al-Baghdadi in
prison before becoming his
enforcer and chief policymaker.
Abdullah Qardash — nicknamed
The Professor or The
Destroyer because of his reputation
as a brutal legislator - is
known as a cruel but popular
figure among the ISIS rankand
file.
According to a statement by
Amaq, ISIS's press agency,
Baghdadi appointed Qardash to
run the group's day-to-day
operations in August this year,
making him the heir-apparent
after his former boss killed
himself during a raid by US
forces in Syria at the weekend.
Qardash was born in Iraq.
Following the invasion of Iraq
by the US in 2003 and President
Bush's move to disband
the country's military, he
found himself locked in jail
accused of having links to al-
Qaeda. Languishing in a cell at
Camp Bucca, Qardash formed a
close bond with Baghdadi,
who was then fomenting the
extremist religious code that
would provide the ideological
grounding for the death cult
that became ISIS. — Daily Mail
Abdullah Qardash
FAMILIES of those killed during
ISIS's blood-thirsty campaign
of terror under Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi's leadership
saluted his death on Saturday
night.
KAYLA MUELLER: Parents
of Mueller, who was kidnapped
and taken hostage by ISIS in
2013 while helping
Syrian civil war
refugees, said
she could still
be alive if
Obama had
been as decisive
as Trump.
They said they
were grateful the
mission was named
in honor of their daughter.
JAMES FOLEY: Foley, an
American journalist, went
missing in Syria in 2012. He
was beheaded in a video by
ISIS in 2014. His mother said:
“I am grateful to our president
and brave troops for finding
ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. I
hope this will hinder the resurgence
of terror groups.”
STEVEN SOTLOFF: Sotloff,
an American-Israeli journalist
went missing in July 2013 and
was beheaded a few weeks
later. His family said: “While
this victory will not bring our
beloved Steven back to us, it is
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
An aerial view taken on Sunday shows the site that was hit by
helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the
northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the Idlib province along the
border with Turkey.