After Baghdadi’s death... Meet his successor Turkmen officer in the former Iraqi army

Shafaq News/With the announcement of the death of ISIS leader ,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, attention is turning to his successor, who was nominated by al-Baghdadi two months before his death.

Last August, ISIS-affiliated media reported that Baghdadi nominated Iraqi Turkmen ,Abdullah Qardash as his "successor" to lead the group, which announced the return of the caliphate after taking control of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014.

It is said that the nominated caliph, identified as Abu Omar Qardash , a Turkoman, was a former Iraqi army officer under Saddam Hussein regime, with leadership experience in extremist organizations in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Well-informed sources say that al-Baghdadi’s successor, nicknamed the "destroyer," was held at Bucca Prison (Basra province). He previously served as the general forensic of al-Qaeda, a graduate of the Grand Imam College in Mosul.

According to the sources, "Qardash" was close to the leader ,Abu Alaa al-Afri (Baghdadi’s deputy and the second man in the leadership of ISIS, killed in 2016), " his father was an articulate rationalist", and is characterized by cruelty , authoritarianism and militancy, and was the first to receive Baghdadi during the fall of Mosul .

Abu Omar Qardash became the Emir of the General Security Bureau in Syria and Iraq, one of the most powerful bureaucracies within ISIS, responsible for protecting the leadership and getting rid of the enemies of the organization. He also previously supervised the Board of Grievances, one of the service departments established by ISIS during its control of the cities. He also served as Defense Minister within the organization and personally supervised booby traps in Syria.

Abu Bakr al-Iraqi, a former Baghdadi deputy, nominated him to be the leader of the organization's branch in Lebanon during the group's thinking of establishing a branch there, but the idea was later canceled.

Abu Omar Qardash was one of al-Baghdadi's companions in the group's latest video, “ Hosted by the Commander of the Faithful “, in April 2019.

He also held the post of "general military" of the formerly known as "State of al-Sham" and personally supervised the leadership of the organization's battles in Raqqa, according to an earlier document published by ISIS research and advisory office ,Abu Muhammad al-Husseini al-Hashimi.

It is noteworthy that at the end of July, the head of the "Falcons Cell" of the Iraqi Interior, Abu Ali Basri, said that "Baghdadi" is in Syria, "and made changes to compensate the killed terrorists in recent years."

Al-Basri also said that Baghdadi suffered paralysis of his limbs due to shrapnel hit by a rocket in the backbone during an operation by the Falcons Cell in coordination with the Air Force, while meeting with his assistants in “Hajin” area southeast of the Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor, before its release in 2018.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is Ibrahim Awad al-Badri al-Samarrai, was the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq until June 2014 when he declared the establishment of a state of "caliphate", after his fighters managed to control large swaths of Syria and Iraq, and took Mosul city, as the capital of his country.

In September 2018, the Iraqi army and its US-backed counterparts managed to drive ISIS out of Mosul, and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces also managed to drive it out of Syrian territory, confined to the border areas with Iraq.