Editorial | Baghdadi’s death is not the end of terrorism
- The leader of the Islamic State militant group has been killed but his followers, other jihadis and their struggle will continue to be a challenge
There can be no denying the importance of the death of Islamic State (Isis) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a United States-led raid in northwest Syria. He was a masterful strategist, persuasive recruiter and inspirational figure.
The terrorist group will have difficulty finding a replacement as competent and charismatic and followers have been shaken by the vulnerabilities that have been revealed.
But while a blow has been struck, now is not the time for triumphalism, as US President Donald Trump indicates; the job of fighting extremism is far from over.
Baghdadi oversaw Isis’ rise from an offshoot of the terrorist group al-Qaeda to a pseudo-state with 8 million people in northern Iraq and Syria that became rich from the wealth of extortion, taxes and oil revenue. Loyalty was enforced through extreme cruelty.
But the US and its allies fought back and the caliphate collapsed. Now, with the leader’s death, Isis is struggling to survive. Jihadi groups are resilient and adaptive, though, and the instability and civil wars that continue in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere remain fertile ground for a regrouping, alliance or merger with other terrorist organisations.
