Islamic State: Defeating the Virtual Caliphate
PARIS – The Islamic State group may soon be defeated in Iraq and Syria but a “virtual caliphate” could be harder to conquer, experts and officials have warned.

PARIS – The Islamic State group may soon be defeated in Iraq and Syria but a “virtual caliphate” could be harder to conquer, experts and officials have warned.

The Islamic State (ISIS) released a previously unheard audio recording Thursday of its “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been missing for the better part of a year as ISIS loses territory in Iraq and Syria, fueling speculation that he had been killed.

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WASHINGTON — Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top U.S. military commander said Thursday, contradicting Russia’s claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.

A Shia Imam in California, who stated during a sermon that “ISIS is the production of the Israeli intelligence” and that Israel “finances, arms and trains” the so-called “Islamic State,” has apologized for his statements.

The Shia imam of a Muslim congregation in California has suggested that the so-called Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, of Daesh) “is the production of the Israeli intelligence.”

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is currently alive in Syria, a top Kurdish counterterrorism official recently told Reuters, denying reports from Russia and a Syrian war monitor group claiming otherwise.

A senior member of the Islamic State from the group’s stronghold in Hawija has reportedly declared himself the new leader of the organization, following the reported death of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The hunt for evidence that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead continued on Wednesday, while Iraqi forces battled ISIS holdouts in the officially liberated city of Mosul.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based activist group, claimed on Tuesday it has “confirmed information” that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.

TEL AVIV — Hamas is acting to infiltrate the ranks of the Islamic State group in Sinai, a senior jihadist associated with IS claimed to Breitbart Jerusalem.

Iraqi forces are on the verge of recapturing the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, three years after the terror organization declared it as a caliphate.

On Friday’s Breitbart News Daily, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton reacted to breaking news that Russia claims to have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an airstrike, then moved on to discuss North Korea’s release of American hostage Otto Warmbier and the current state of U.S. relations with Cuba.

On Wednesday’s Breitbart News Daily, SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam asked Deputy Adviser to the President Dr. Sebastian Gorka about proposals to send more troops into Afghanistan.

Contents: UN says lengthy Mosul operation leading to major humanitarian disaster; ISIS using both mustard gas and chlorine gas attacks in Mosul; Iraq says that ISIS and al-Qaeda are in talks to join forces

Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be the deputy of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraqi military intelligence.

Dozens of asylum seekers who applied for resettlement in Australia have been rejected after failing security checks or being deemed economic migrants rather than genuine refugees, according to Sky News.

Elite Iraqi forces battled house by house in the Old City of Mosul on Saturday, inching towards the mosque where the Islamic State group proclaimed its “caliphate” in 2014, a spokesman said.

A report from the front line of the battle for Mosul shows Iraqi forces closing in on the mosque where Islamic State (IS) group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” in June 2014.

Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is reported to have abandoned Mosul, leaving local commanders behind to lead the battle against Iraqi forces advancing in the city.

A Muslim convert from Texas facing murder charges for killing a security guard in Colorado said he acted “solely for the pleasure of Allah,” but CBS4 in Denver told its viewers that the alleged killer’s motive “is still unclear.”

Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a recent “farewell speech,” admits defeat and tells his Iraqi fighters in the battlefield to “flee and hide” or “ blow themselves up when surrounded by Iraqi forces,” reports a local Iraqi news outlet.

An Arab-Israeli man was indicted Monday for his alleged links to the Islamic State terror group and his plans to orchestrate attacks in Israel.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul shooting that killed 39 people and wounded scores of others.

The elusive leader of the Islamic State “caliphate,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is evidently still alive, despite rumors that his low profile for the past few months might have signaled his death or a serious injury.

Islamic State militants fighting to hold on to their Mosul stronghold have displayed the crucified bodies of five people they said gave information to “the enemy”, and are back on the city streets policing the length of men’s beards, residents say.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters on Thursday that Islamic State “Caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had fled Mosul shortly following the release of an audio message in which al-Baghdadi demanded his jihadi fighters not flee their largest stronghold in Iraq.

Islamic State “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has released a new audio message encouraging his jihadis not to flee the battlefields of Mosul, the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq. The message follows reports that Baghdadi may be in danger himself as he has chosen to hide in Mosul, not the Islamic State “capital” of Raqqa, Syria.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rose from obscurity to lead the world’s most infamous and feared jihadist group, but avoids the public eye and cultivates an aura of mystery.

Whenever members of Islamic State’s Mosul vice squad find a woman without gloves, they pull out a pair of pliers.

Several former Islamic State militants have been arrested in Jordan over the last week yielding information indicating IS fighters fleeing Iraq and Syria may have traveled abroad on fake European passports, an Arab intelligence official told Breitbart Jerusalem.

In a significant escalation of the battle for Mosul, elite Iraqi special forces joined the fight Thursday, unleashing a pre-dawn assault on an Islamic State-held town east of the besieged city, and the US military announced the first American combat death since the operation began.

During the third presidential debate, Donald Trump complained about telegraphing major military actions such as the invasion of Mosul for months, and said “these people have already left.”

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group were key to defeating the jihadist group.

Evidence is mounting that despite early reports, the 20-year-old Turkish national who admits taking a gun into a Washington mall where five people were killed last Friday may have had Islamic terror motivations. Arcan Cetin previously posted photos of Islamic State leader

The Islamic State has released a video showing the Normandy priest killers making the bay’ah, the ritual vow of loyalty to the “caliphate,” before carrying out their horrific act of slaughter.

Following the Obama administration’s attempt to remove from a 9-1-1 call transcript Orlando terrorist shooter Omar Mateen’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State, U.S. law enforcement officials are now investigating the role that Mateen’s reported use of steroids may have played in the massacre.

TEL AVIV – According to an unconfirmed report in the respected Turkish daily Yenis Safak newspaper, Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a US air strike in Raqqa.

Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, called 9-1-1 just before opening fire on Pulse nightclub to pledge his allegiance to ISIS leader Abu al-Baghdadi, according to a report from Pete Williams at MSNBC. Williams’ colleague Kelly O’Donnell tweeted about the report.

Israel’s crackdown on Arab citizens trying to join Islamic State in Syria or Iraq or to set up cells at home have prevented the threat reaching the scale seen in the West, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a magazine interview.
