ISIS leader al-Baghdadi proves formidable enemy

Mushreq Abbas

Feb 5, 2014

Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant carry their weapons during a parade at the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the border with Turkey January 2, 2014. Picture taken January 2, 2014. REUTERS/Yaser Al-Khodor (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX170U3 — Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) carry their weapons during a parade at the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the border with Turkey, Jan. 2, 2014. — REUTERS/Yaser Al-Khodor

عربي

The picture released by the Iraqi Interior Ministry on Jan. 29 of the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a first-of-its-kind breakthrough since US forces showed a picture of him when he was detained in Bucca prison (southern Iraq) between 2005 and 2009.

According to information available from al-Qaeda and from leaks from the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Baghdadi’s actual name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai.