- The ISIS Collapse. Trump's Military Advisors set up a huge operation to take out the ISIS leader. Trump follows with a global press conference to further demoralize the terror network, by detailing the cowardly behavior of the ISIS leader, when he died (like a dog).
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Al Baghdadi Raid Timeline.
On Friday, military officials provided Trump with different plans to go after al-Baghdadi, Pence said. That same day, according to Reuters, al-Baghdadi and his family left their compound by minibus, for the last time — perhaps the "actionable intelligence" Pence mentioned that allowed US forces to embark on the Saturday operation.
The raid on al-Baghdadi's compound began early on Sunday morning local time, The Washington Post reports. Details are beginning to emerge about the operation:
The operation was codenamed to honor Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who was captured by ISIS and repeatedly raped by al-Baghdadi before she was killed. Mueller was abducted from Aleppo in 2013 and confirmed dead in 2015, though her body has not been recovered, CNN reports.
- Troops involved in the operation, including members of the Army's Delta Force, took off in eight helicopters from Iraq early Sunday morning local time — Saturday afternoon on the US East Coast.
- The troops were met with small-arms fire upon landing in Syria, just a few miles from the Turkish border.
- The commandos involved in the operation called out to al-Baghdadi once they arrived at the compound to see whether he would come out. They breached two walls of the compound with explosives, fearing the entrance was booby-trapped, after 11 children and a few adults emerged, according to The Washington Post.
- Al-Baghdadi didn't emerge, instead retreating into the tunnels of the compound with two children. A US military working dog followed al-Baghdadi into the tunnel, where the terrorist leader detonated a suicide vest that killed himself and the children.
- US forces performed a DNA test on al-Baghdadi's remains in a secure location, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a press conference Monday.
- The compound was destroyed by US firepower, including Hellfire missiles, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, and GBU laser-guided bombs, according to Milley.
- Trump announced Sunday morning that al-Baghdadi had been killed by US forces.
- Trump, Pence, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, and other members of the national security team watched the raid unfold via overhead surveillance footage. No sound is available on such footage to prevent interference from the Situation Room during these operations, The New York Times said.
- While the troops involved in the raid were wearing body cameras, that footage was not relayed to the Situation Room in real time, as it contains disturbing images and can be disorienting. As The Times reported, that footage is meant to be viewed after the fact.
- Trump described al-Baghdadi as "screaming, crying, and whimpering" when he died, though it's unclear how he obtained that information; he may have talked to those directly involved.
- The mission was complete and al-Baghdadi dead by 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, O'Brien said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
In the aftermath of the operation, it's unclear what's next. Here's what we know and what we don't.
- Syrians sifting through the rubble at the site of al-Baghdadi's compound the day after the operation.
- The dog who followed al-Baghdadi into the tunnel was wounded in the operation but is recovering, though its name has not been released.
- Al-Baghdadi's remains were buried at sea within 24 hours of his death, McKenzie said in a press conference Wednesday.
- Two men who were taken from the compound are in US custody, Milley told reporters during a press conference Monday afternoon.
- Separately, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a spokesman for ISIS and a likely successor to al-Baghdadi, was reported killed in Syria on Sunday, though US officials have not confirmed the operation, which is believed to have been a joint effort by US and SDF forces, The New York Times reports.
