Is Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi the new leader of ISIS?
ISIS-linked pages on social media site Telegram posted a
picture claimed to be of the terrorist group’s new leader, Abu Ibrahim
al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, saying that the former ISIS governor of Anbar was
appointed by the group’s Shura Council to succeed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Some believe that the structure of the organization has been
completely eroded, leaving no well-known leaders except Abu Ibrahim, Haji
Abdullah, Haji Abdul Nasser, Abu Abdul Hakam Tayseer, and Mazen Al-Nuhairi.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi is a pseudonym to hide the
new leader for fear of being targeted and at the same time make him appear to
be Qurashi and from the prophetic family in order to preserve ancient
conditions so as to prevent splits from occurring, considering he does not
possess the qualities of a caliph. However, they strikingly did not discuss the
pledge of allegiance to him as a possible emir or new caliph. Compared to his
predecessors Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Ibrahim appears
to have been chosen randomly, more of a leader of necessity to keep the
organization afloat as long as possible even though it has lost many of the
factors of its strengths.
