END OF ISIS: Terrorists 'ANGRY' at leader for 'HIDING somewhere' far from battlefield
ISIS fighters are “angry” at their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, for “hiding” somewhere in the desert rather than fighting against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) currently sweeping over the last sliver of the jihadist territory in Syria.
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As the SDF is getting nearer and nearer to defeating ISIS in Syria, surrendering jihadists are revealing their rancour against Baghdadi. Mohammed Ali, a captured Canadian ISIS fighter, said: “He’s hiding somewhere. People are angry.” The last standing stronghold of ISIS is an area of about half a square mile in the Syrian Euphrates valley. Local leaders and western authorities told The Sunday Times al-Baghdadi is not believed to be anywhere near the battlefield.
Officials believe he could be in Anbar, a desert province in Iraq where ISIS leaders have family links.
Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself the leader of the terror group in a speech delivered in 2014 Mosul’s al-Hadba mosque.
Ever since, he has stopped appearing in ISIS videos but has only recorded audio messages to his followers, urging them to keep fighting and remain strong.
The last speech, in which he invited jihadists to attack westerners with guns, bombs and knives, was released in August last year.
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This distance from his followers has fractured ISIS into smaller groups and filled jihadists with disenchantment.
A source in the al-Shaitat militia, which fights with the SDF, said, citing intelligence from captured fighters and militants inside ISIS: “Around one year ago there were a lot of assassinations between Isis members.
“Between those from the Gulf, other groups and Iraqis. They were killing each other.
“The conflict was between the foreign fighters.
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“They were asking, where is the caliph? Like the prophet Muhammad he should be on the front line.
“They wanted someone to be there on the ground.”
Al-Baghdadi is believed to have been brought to a secret location in the desert after having survived a coup attempt launched by foreign fighters in January, The Guardian wrote citing intelligence officials sources.
Then, the ISIS leader was believed to be in a village near Hajin in the Euphrates River valley, in the heart of the last ISIS-held territory.
An intelligence official said: “They got wind of it just in time.
“There was a clash and two people were killed.
“This was the foreign fighter element, some of his most trusted people.”
The coup placed a bounty on the main plotter’s head.