Dead end: Inside the two-hour Delta Force raid that killed ISIS leader Baghdadi

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More than five years after the Islamic State first took root in Iraq and Syria, President Trump confirmed on Sunday its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in Syria during a raid by U.S. special operations forces.

Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after U.S. forces chased him into a dead-end tunnel, killing himself and three of his children he was using as human shields. The explosion largely destroyed Baghdadi’s corpse, but DNA tests taken at the site of the raid confirmed his identity, according to Trump.

“The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him,” Trump said in a televised address Sunday morning.

Members of Delta Force’s A-Squadron carried out the operation, an elite group of soldiers selected from the best of the special operations forces community. Members of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment were also on hand for the attack. The operation itself was overseen by Joint Special Operations Command, which also coordinated Operation Neptune Spear — the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

The raid was launched out of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Saturday evening, with U.S. forces inserting under fire via helicopter into Barisha, a city in Syria’s Idlib province close to the Turkish border.

The soldiers embarked on the mission with only themselves and their commanders for support. They did not tell their families where they were headed, nor that they were about to engage in a deadly raid.

U.S. forces engaged in a brief firefight with ISIS forces, killing several while others surrendered. They knew the building in which Baghdadi was hiding had a tunnel network, and they covered one of the tunnels believed to have an exit. U.S. forces entered the building by blowing holes in the side of the building to avoid the booby-trapped doorway, according to Trump.

Eleven children were removed from the house in which Baghdadi was hiding and were uninjured. No U.S. forces were killed in the attack, though a military canine suffered severe injuries. The raid took about two hours and led to the seizure of a trove of ISIS intelligence. The area of operations was bombed after the attack to prevent it from becoming a shrine to the leader.

Trump watched the raid in the White House situation room, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, new national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and other defense officials.

The operation was the product of an intelligence operation carried out by the CIA, Syrian Kurdish forces, and others, but was delayed by a month due to Turkish operations along the Syrian border.

“For five months, there has been joint cooperation on the ground, and accurate monitoring, until we achieved a joint operation to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” Polat Can, an adviser to the Syrian Democratic Forces, said in a tweet.

Baghdadi’s hiding place was located just miles from Turkish forces in the area, raising questions as to how the terrorist leader was able to evade previous detection, considering Turkish forces were supposed to continue anti-ISIS operations after Trump announced a U.S. military withdrawal from northern Syria. Turkey served as a main route for ISIS recruits traveling to Syria and a key artery for the group’s oil trade in its early years.

Turkish forces were warned of the attack in order to avoid “interference” with U.S. forces, according to the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

“Before the U.S. operation in Idlib yesterday, there was an exchange of information and coordination between the military authorities,” the ministry said in a press release. “Before and during the U.S. operation, we acted within the spirit of Alliance and strategic partnership in the framework of the fight primarily against the DAESH and PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist organizations.”

Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG to be a branch of the PKK, a designated terrorist organization and longtime Turkish enemy. The YPG served as the main ground force in the U.S.-backed operations against ISIS. Trump announced a permanent ceasefire in northern Syria earlier this month, though both sides have been accused of breaching it.

Baghdadi’s death brings a close to a manhunt that has been ongoing since the United States began operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2014. The ISIS leader was last seen in a video address in April, in which he encouraged his shattered forces following the defeat of the ISIS land caliphate earlier this year.

ISIS forces have continued to pose a threat following their defeat, reverting to their insurgent roots in Iraq and Syria. More than 100 ISIS captives are believed to have escaped captivity in northern Syria following Turkey’s invasion. Other ISIS branches have continued to pose a threat in places such as Afghanistan, India, and Africa.

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