Daesh has confirmed the death of its leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hachimi al-Qourachi, just over a month after the announcement of his death by the United States, and named his successor.
The jihadists have thus “sworn allegiance to Abu Hassan al-Hachimi al-Qurachi, the emir of believers and caliph of Muslims,” said the group’s spokesman in an audio recording.
The death of the former leader of Daesh as well as his previous spokesman are also confirmed in the recording. “Abou Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurachi and the official spokesman (…) Abu Hamza al-Qourachi were killed recently,” added the new spokesman.
The former leader of Daesh blew himself up during an operation by US special forces in northwestern Syria, US President Joe Biden announced on February 3. He ended October 2019 as head of the group after the elimination of his predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Another 10,000 fighters
Abu Hassan al-Hachimi al-Qurachi, the new leader of the radical Sunni organization, is relatively unknown. He takes the reins of Daesh at a time when the group is weakened by successive offensives supported by the United States in Iraq and Syria.
But Daesh “maintains a largely clandestine presence in Iraq and Syria and leads a sustained insurgency on both sides of the border between the two countries”, according to a UN report published last year.
In these two countries, the jihadist organization would retain “in all 10,000 active fighters”, according to this report.