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Another interesting detail is that ex-spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, the Saudi national killed hours after Baghdadi, was closer to Baghdadi than we thought. He was hanging out with him most of the time. He & "the Hajji" were mentioned as in Idlib before Baghdadi got there.
Some of the books that #Baghdadi had in a recent desert hideout on the Syria-Iraq borders.pic.twitter.com/toNFEcWglH
Most are regular prayers / jurisprudence books, except Wahhabism’s Book of Tawhid, and the old Islamic State of Iraq’s Informing Mankind about the State of Islam.pic.twitter.com/UHUwnEdzAX
A closeup for some of these books from Google, for those asking. The middle two on the top, who can identify them? Can’t read them.pic.twitter.com/hbyhpEuBSt
The more you listen to the evidence provided by the Iraqis here, the more interesting the story gets. One takeaway:
One takeaway from the massive evidence released here by the Iraqis is that the Iraqi role ends when Baghdadi leaves the Anbar desert.
Iraqis created a leap that made them sound they were behind the location of Baghdadi in #Idlib. Nothing indicates they knew, the US did the rest?
In the report, for example, the Iraqi intel agency behind this whole thing told the reporter that Hanan mentioned Idlib as where Baghdadi was hiding. She didn’t know the location. She said so only two days before Baghdadi was killed.pic.twitter.com/0BOM7gPzmv
Another interesting detail is that there was an “Abu Baraa” with Baghdadi early on, not during his last days in Anbar. Someone identified as Abu Baraa was killed with Baghdadi in Idlib. That Abu Baraa was widely reported as a member of Hurras ad-Din.
Even though who thought Abu Baraa was from Hurras ad-Din still suspected he was an ISIS mole, and that he was using different names to do online propaganda for ISIS.
Another takeaway, the reporting from the Iraqis makes it clear that Baghdadi simply had nowhere else to run (as @martinchulov reported).https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/nowhere-left-to-run-how-the-us-finally-caught-up-with-isis-leader-baghdadi…
Baghdadi was squeezed in Anbar, multiple associates of his got killed or captured & ISIS leaders had been in Idlib. Baghdadi told his brother-in-law other leaders were living comfortably in Idlib. Now, for the first time, I see why Baghdadi would relocate to such a hostile area.
Baghdadi’s brother-in-law says Baghdadi trusted him, told him about where the two top leaders below him were living. The two were nominees to lead the group after Baghdadi. If Baghdadi was going to, say, speak to al-Qaeda or HaD, the Iraqis would have learned that detail.
Staying with Hurras ad-Din is a stupid notion, but some suggested Baghdadi might have wanted to meet secretly with al-Qaeda to reach an agreement. That theory was plausible, if far-fetched, but impossible to trust them with his safety. That theory is now even more far-fetched.pic.twitter.com/scabauNlye
Another super intriguing detail is the role of shepherds for ISIS movements (not necessarily knowingly, though). Scroll up. Now, to connect the dots, remember that a shepherd was near the compound where Baghdadi was killed! Coincidence?https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1189652034988982273?s=21…
That’d be a crazy coincidence. The shepherd said he met the Americans who asked him to take children they found at the compound. He returned to speak to locals, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, after Baghdadi’s death. What was his role, if any?https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1188411173638737920?s=21…
Speculating here, but the US worked with a local indirectly before the killing of bin Laden. Was the shepherd working with the US? The US did say they extracted 2 individuals who assisted them. I believe the Iraqis’ role ended early on; brother-in-law denied he led to Baghdadi.
DID A SHEPHERD HELP THE UNITED STATES LOCATE/VERIFY BAGHDADI? Some journalist with the connections needs to get the tick-tock for how the US got Baghdadi after the Iraqis did most of the early work. The full story hasn’t been told yet. Don’t tel me about underwear, though.
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