More details have emerged about the ISIS defector who gave up key information that led to the successful U.S. operation to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The mole, a man of unidentified nationality, was actually inside Baghdadi’s Syrian compound when U.S. Delta Forces raided it and killed the terror leader on Saturday, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials told the Washington Post.
The informant gave up detailed information including the precise interior layout of the compound and Baghdadi’s location inside at the time of the assault, the officials said.
The defector is expected to receive some or all the $25 million bounty that the U.S. had placed on Baghdadi, and was exfiltrated from Syria along with his family two days after the raid.
A key informant who helped lead US special forces to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) provided key information about the Isis leader’s safe house in Syria and even produced his soiled underwear for DNA testing
Baghdadi, 48, the elusive leader of the Islamic State, killed himself and three of his children by deploying a suicide vest as US forces stormed his compound in northern Syria (pictured) Saturday night
One official told the Post that the man was a Sunni Arab who became embittered with ISIS after the Muslim extremist group murdered his family members.
The informant is believed to be the same individual whom NBC News earlier reported stole al-Baghdadi’s dirty underpants for DNA testing to confirm his identity.
Kurdish intelligence operatives who supervised the informant passed the intelligence on to American forces before they raided al-Baghdadi’s safe house.
Al-Baghdadi, 48, the elusive leader of the Islamic State, killed himself and three of his children by deploying a suicide vest as US forces stormed the compound Saturday night.
General Mazloum Abdi of the Syrian Democratic Forces said the informant described a room-by-room layout of the terror leader’s compound on the Turkish border, including the number of guards, floor plan and tunnels, reports NBC News.
The revelation of the informant comes as President Donald Trump received renewed criticism for his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, leaving the Kurds to confront a Turkish offensive on their own.
The president had praised US forces for the raid al-Baghdadi, who in ‘his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread,’ was ‘terrified of the American forces bearing down on him’.
The informant who led the US to Baghdadi, said General Mazloum Abdi of the Syrian Democratic Forces (pictured), described a room-by-room layout of the terror leader’s compound on the Turkish border, including the number of guards, floor plan and tunnels,
However, two intelligence officials revealed to the New York Times that it was actually Syrian and Iraqi Kurds who provided the most information about al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts, and were instrumental in bringing him down.
In fact, officials started to narrow down al-Baghdadi’s location and plan the raid this past summer, but the operation to strike his hideout was nearly blown out of the water when Trump abruptly announced plans to withdraw American troops from northern Syria.
The bold move forced Pentagon officials to green light the night raid before their control of troops, spies, and reconnaissance aircraft was withdrawn, military, intelligence and counterterrorism officials revealed to the Times.
Those officials say that al-Baghdadi’s death comes largely in spite of Trump’s military leadership, with the Kurds continuing to provide information to the CIA even after Trump’s announcement, which left them vulnerable to attack from an aggressive Turkish front.
The informant in Saturday’s raid provided Baghdadi’s dirty underpants to ‘make sure (100%) that the person in question was Al Baghdadi himself’, tweeted Polat Can, a senior official with the Kurdish Democratic Forces
The informant in Saturday’s raid provided al-Baghdadi’s dirty underpants to ‘make sure (100%) that the person in question was al-Baghdadi himself’, tweeted Polat Can, a senior official with the Kurdish Democratic Forces.
The informant also provided a blood from the Isis leader to further prove his access to the Jihadist.
US intelligence officials used the samples to get a positive DNA match on al-Baghdadi, to set the raid in motion. The underwear was stolen about three months ago and the blood sample was taken roughly a month ago, a Kurdish official told NBC.
Trump did thank Syrian Kurds on Sunday for their role in helping to find Baghdadi.
The president, speaking to the nation from the White House, said the Kurds weren’t involved militarily, but did provide ‘some information that turned out to be helpful’.
For many Kurds it wasn’t enough of a an acknowledgment, especially after Trump thanked Russia and other nations. Kurdish-led forces have lost 11,000 men and women since they began fighting ISIS five years ago.
Trump did thank Syrian Kurds on Sunday for their role in helping to find Baghdadi. The president, speaking to the nation from the White House, said the Kurds weren’t involved militarily, but did provide ‘some information that turned out to be helpful’