(Adds U.S. State Department on coalition meeting, killing of
Islamic State spokesman, Pentagon on protecting Syrian
oilfields, burial at sea)
* World leaders say fight against Islamic State not over
* Jihadist group had lost almost all its territory in recent
years
* Group gained notoriety for beheadings, persecution of
minorities
* OBITUARY-Baghdadi: a trail of horror and death
* GRAPHIC-The hunt for Baghdadi https://tmsnrt.rs/32SjlZa
By Humeyra Pamuk and Andrew Osborn
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The United States
wants to bolster a coalition fighting Islamic State in
northeastern Syria, a senior State Department official said on
Monday, after the leader of the jihadi movement, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, was killed in a weekend operation.
World leaders welcomed his death, but they and security
experts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities
against religious minorities and horrified most Muslims,
remained a security threat in Syria and beyond. The official said that President Donald Trump, by announcing
the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria on Oct. 6, did
not suggest that Washington was abandoning the fight against
Islamic State. "There was never an idea that we would abandon the mission
of going after ISIS. ... This is a major effort that is
continuing," the official told reporters.
Foreign ministers will meet in Washington on Nov. 14 to
discuss the mission.
"The United States is determined to prevent a resurgence of
ISIS in Syria and Iraq and continues to work with the Global
Coalition to destroy ISIS remnants and thwart its global
ambitions," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
It said the Washington meeting's discussions would have a
"particular focus on recent developments in northeast Syria and
their relationship to stability and security of the region."
Trump has softened his pullout plans for Syria after a
backlash from Congress, including from fellow Republicans, who
say he enabled a long-threatened Turkish incursion on Oct. 9
against Kurdish forces in Syria who had been America's top
allies in the battle against Islamic State since 2014.
U.S. special forces carried out the Syrian operation in
which Baghdadi killed himself and three of his children by
detonating a suicide vest when he was cornered in a tunnel.
Trump said on Monday he may declassify and release part of
the video taken on Saturday of the raid. The video is believed
to include aerial footage and possibly footage from cameras
mounted on the soldiers who stormed Baghdadi's compound.
Trump said on Sunday that Baghdadi had died "whimpering and
crying" in a raid that fulfilled the president's top national
security goal.
The United States has given the remains of Baghdadi a burial
at sea and afforded him religious rites according to Islamic
custom, three officials told Reuters. THREAT
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say if the
United States had told Russia about the operation in advance.
Trump, in announcing the operation, said Russia "treated us
great" by opening up airspace it controlled for the raid.
Peskov added: "If this information is confirmed, we can talk
about a serious contribution by the president of the United
States to the fight against international terrorism."
French President Emmanuel Macron said Baghdadi's death was a
major blow against Islamic State, but "the fight continues to
finally defeat this terrorist organisation".
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We will work
with our coalition partners to bring an end to the murderous,
barbaric activities of Daesh (Islamic State) once and for all."
In Southeast Asia, an important focus for Islamic State,
officials said security forces were preparing for a long battle
to thwart the group's ideology. The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, home to some of
Asia's most organised Islamist militants, said they were braced
for retaliation by Islamic State loyalists, including
"lone-wolf" attacks by radicalised locals.
The United States on Monday confirmed the killing of Abu
al-Hassan al-Muhajir, Islamic State spokesman and a high-ranking
figure within the jihadi group, in a separate U.S. operation in
northern Syria. AND DANGEROUS
Although Baghdadi's death will unsettle Islamic State, it
remains capable and dangerous, said Delfin Lorenzana, defence
secretary of the Philippines, where the group's influence has
taken a hold in its troubled Mindanao region.
"This is a blow to the organisation considering
al-Baghdadi's stature as a leader. But this is just a momentary
setback considering the depth and reach of the organisation
worldwide," Lorenzana said. "Somebody will take his place."
Islamic State has no declared successor as leader. But the
group has proved resilient, continuing to mount or inspire
attacks in the region and beyond despite losing most of its
territory in recent years.
Baghdadi had long been sought by the United States - which
offered a $25 million reward - as leader of a jihadist group
that at one point controlled large areas of Syria and Iraq,
where it declared a caliphate.
Islamic State has brutally attacked religious minorities and
launched deadly strikes on five continents in a violent campaign
that horrified most Muslims.
In their long hunt for Baghdadi, Iraqi intelligence teams
secured a break in February 2018 after one of his top aides gave
them information on how he escaped capture for so many years,
two Iraqi security officials said.
Baghdadi held strategy talks with his commanders in moving
minibuses packed with vegetables in order to avoid detection,
Ismael al-Ethawi told officials after he was arrested by Turkish
authorities and handed to the Iraqis.
"Ethawi gave valuable information which helped the Iraqi
multi-security agencies team complete the missing pieces of the
puzzle of Baghdadi's movements and places he used to hide," one
of the Iraqi security officials said. Iraqi security officials said Kurdish intelligence agents
had exchanged information with counterparts in Baghdad on the
movements of Baghdadi and his aides in Syria. One of the Kurds'
sources passed on a "golden tip" earlier this year.
Suspicious movements were spotted by locals at a house in a
village in Syria, which was placed under surveillance and turned
out to be the house used by Baghdadi, the Iraqi officials said.
U.S. PULLBACK
The raid on Baghdadi comes weeks after Trump announced the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria.
Critics expressed concern at the abandoning of the Kurdish
fighters who were instrumental in defeating Islamic State in
Syria, and said the move might allow the group to regain
strength and pose a threat to U.S. interests.
The Pentagon, however, said the United States would repel
any attempt to take Syria's oilfields away from U.S.-backed
Syrian militia with "overwhelming force," whether the opponent
is Islamic State or even forces backed by Russia or Syria.
Trump said the raid would not change his decision to
withdraw troops from Syria.
But killing Baghdadi could help blunt those concerns, as
well as boosting Trump domestically at a time when he is facing
an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Egypt, which is fighting militants loyal to Islamic State,
said the killing of Baghdadi was "an important step towards
eradicating terrorism".
U.S. foe Iran, which accuses the United States and its
allies of creating Islamic State, was dismissive. Information
Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted: "Not a big deal,
You just killed your creature".
At the height of its power, Islamic State ruled over
millions of people from northern Syria to the outskirts of
Baghdad. Thousands of civilians were killed by the group as it
mounted what the United Nations called a genocidal campaign
against Iraq's Yazidi minority. It also caused worldwide
revulsion by beheading foreign nationals from countries
including the United States, Britain and Japan.
The group has claimed responsibility for or inspired attacks
in cities including Paris, Nice, France, Orlando, Florida,
Manchester, England, London and Berlin, and in Turkey, Iran,
Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
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TIMELINE-Anatomy of a raid: how the United States took out
Baghdadi State's Baghdadi: a trail of horror and death
death: a major blow to Islamic State
to announcement of IS leader Baghdadi's death
hunt for Baghdadi https://tmsnrt.rs/32SjlZa
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