Death for Baghdadi
The demise of the ISIS leader won’t undo the damage caused by the U.S. withdrawal from Syria
SYRIA: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the 48-year-old leader of ISIS, killed himself and three children, detonating a suicide vest in a tunnel while being pursued by U.S. special operations forces, according to President Donald Trump. Watch and read the president’s full address from Sunday.
The death of Baghdadi is a milestone in the long fight against Islamic extremists, but it will not undo the damage from Trump’s early October decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the Turkish-Syrian border, with Turkey targeting civilians and deploying al-Qaeda-linked militias in a violent invasion of northeast Syria. That action has forced the Kurdish-led and U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces into retreat, yet the SDF spent five months tracking Baghdadi. SDF commander Gen. Mazloum Abdi was the only point person outside the U.S. military to know the target and said the Delta Force operation had to be delayed by a month due to the U.S. pullout. Among those grateful for Baghdadi’s death are the parents of Kayla Mueller, who was held by ISIS and raped by Baghdadi himself. The Muellers hope to learn more of what happened to their daughter now, given that U.S. forces captured documents and other items from Baghdadi’s hideout: “We want the truth, wherever that leads,” Marsha Mueller told me earlier this year. Photographer Ivor Prickett’s End of the Caliphate captures the images of the damage wrought by ISIS under Baghdadi.TURKEY: Saturday marked one of the worst days of fighting in northeast Syria as Turkish forces deployed drones, armored vehicles, and mortars to attack villages around Tel Tamer, forcing residents to flee. Tel Tamer is a largely Christian town retaken from ISIS in 2015 with help from Kurdish fighters. By Saturday night, Syrian Army convoys could be seen moving into the area, to head off the Turkish advance. This area is outside the “safe zone” declared by Turkey or delineated in the Russia-Turkey agreement reached last week.
Brutal and arbitrary behavior by the Erdogan regime in Turkey is no surprise to Andrew Brunson—according to this interview with Warren Smith.
IRAQ: Protests in Baghdad entered a fourth day Monday, with two reported killed and 112 wounded. Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi deployed elite counterterrorism units to the streets of Baghdad to use any means to end protests that increasingly are targeting Iranian-backed politicians and militias in Iraq.
An American working in Iraq told me on Monday that “this is different” from previous anti-government demonstrations, as anger and violence is directed at religious elites and officials backed by Iran. “Tuk Tuk” drivers, many under age 18, have become makeshift medics, ferrying protesters hurt by tear gas and sniper fire to safety.ISRAEL: The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Aramean Christians may send their children to either Jewish or Arab schools. The mostly Maronite Catholic or Orthodox believers, under Israeli law, often found their children consigned to Arab schools and forced into Islamic instruction. Shadi Khalloul, director of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, told me his group is working to complete an Aramaic curriculum it hopes will be used independently in northern Galilee.
HONG KONG: Six months of protests in Hong Kong has left its churches divided.
INDONESIA: Investigators faulted design decisions by Boeing, U.S. safety regulators who certified the 737 Max, and inadequate pilot training in the Lion Air crash that killed 189 people a year ago.
INDIA: Hindus celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, on Sunday.
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