According to the US president, the ISIS chief died after running into a tunnel in the village of Barisha where he detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of his children.
In an announcement, Trump thanked Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Russia, and the Syrian Kurds for their cooperation.
World reaction to the news has been divided with some leaders hailing it as a turning point in the fight against “terrorism”, while some are playing down its significance.
Joe Biden –
Biden, in a written statement released Monday, went right after Trump.
“His erratic behavior made it harder and more dangerous for the special forces carrying it out. And they had to fly through territory that is now hostile to the U.S., taking fire along the way — including territory we controlled just weeks ago.”
The Washington Post –
The Washington Post changed the headline of its obituary of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Sunday after facing backlash for calling him an “austere religious scholar.”
Nancy Pelosi –
Pelosi, in a statement released shortly after the president’s address, thanked the U.S. Special Operations forces for carrying out the raid – praising “the heroism, dedication and skill of our military and our intelligence professionals” – but questioned why the Trump administration choose to notify other nations of the raid and not congressional lawmakers.
Trump said he did not inform Congress about the raid beforehand because “Washington is a leaking machine.”
“I wanted to make sure this kept secret,” Trump said. “I don’t want to have people lost.”
A US defense official has suggested to CNN that there could be additional operations targeting high value terror operatives following the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
