The Islamic State (IS) has released the first message acknowledging the death of its leader and announced the new elected leaders. The Al-Furqan Foundation, the official media of the central leadership IS released audio with the speech of the new spokesman of the organization, Abu Umar Al-Muhajir. The audio message is entitled: Among them are those who have lost their love.
The new spokesman confirms the death of IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraysh and spokesman Abu Hamza Al-Quraysh and announced that the Shura Council had appointed a successor and new “caliph” identified as Abu Al-Hassan al-Hashimi Al-Quraysh, who was appointed by the will of the previous and deceased leader Abu Ibrahim.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew himself up along with members of his family as American forces raided his hideout in the northwestern Syrian town of Atmeh, near the border with Turkey, on February 3.
There is no real information about the new IS leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. His real name is also not known. The name al-Qurashi comes from Quraish, the name of the tribe that Islam’s Prophet Muhammad belonged to. The name is taken up by the leaders of the Islamic state as it serves as part of an IS leader’s nom de guerre.
While IS has not released the identity of the new caliph, intelligence strongly suggests that there is a genesis of a new phase for the Islamic State and its new generation of leaders, and reinforces views that the organization is running out of leaders from the founding years in 2003 and 2004.
Intelligence in the Jihadists circles in the Middles East both among IS and Al Qaeda supporters indicates the new leader is Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai. He is known by numerous noms de guerre, including Ustath Zaid (Teacher or Professor Zaid), Abu Khattab al-Iraqi, Abu al-Moez al-Iraqi, and Abu Ishaq.
Indicators That Bashar Khattab Ghazal Al-Sumaidai Could Be the New IS Leader:
- He was a close ally and confidant of slain leader Qurashi and after the killing of Baghdadi, he worked with him on restructuring the top leadership of the group.
- He was a member Delegated Committee (the executive body) since 2016, even as he retained his role as a top judge specializing in murder or capital punishment cases.
- He is believed to be a descendant of the family of the Prophet Muhammad, a usual preference for an emir by groups like the Islamic State. With the current weakened state of the IS, having such lineage credentials is an added advantage for a prospective leader who is expected to rejuvenate the group.
- He is a veteran jihadist and was a member of the Ansar al-Islam, an old organization in northern Iraq made up of Iraqi and Arab veterans of the jihad in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
- He was a key radical indoctrinator in Mosul (close to where al Baghdadi operated from) before joining IS. Hence, he was given vital roles immediately after joining IS as he was a professor and teacher of a majority of IS teachers, judges, and other officials.
- By calling him a “caliph”, IS has hugely narrowed the pool of candidates. In strict religious interpretations, a caliph must trace his lineage to Prophet Muhammed’s Quraysh clan & have no physical disability.
As IS appears to have been struggling to remain relevant, recover from the repeated losses they have suffered since the killing of al Baghdadi, Sumaidai appears to be the leader with the most muscle and charisma to lead the group. He has been quoted by various high-profile members of the group as their mentor and teacher during his days in Mosul as such he is best-poised o take over the group’s leadership.
Additionally, while nothing has been revealed Sumaidai is the only leader of the group with the potential and support from a huge following as well as his close relationship and trust from the two former leaders of IS.
IS has a notorious paranoid and mistrustful reputation and seeing as Sumaidai only joined the group in 2013 with the help of Qurashi but also Qurashi’s mentor Abu Ali al-Anbari and rose to the powerful position is indicative of his capabilities, and ability to inspire trust and devotion from both his seniors and subordinates which will come handy in the near future where it is projected that allegiance pledges will increased as the scattered members of the organization regroup and reignite their activities.
