The leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group has successfully eluded capture by the United States and other military forces over the years by using old-fashioned spy tactics.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to be hiding out somewhere in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. He does not use a cell phone or a computer, instead relying on a small circle of aides to pass and receive messages for him. He sometimes attends face-to-face meetings, but he travels with just one vehicle rather than a convoy so as not to bring attention to himself.
The 47-year-old was believed to have been seriously wounded in a 2015 airstrike and, for a short time, some experts thought he had died. But al-Baghdadi had resurfaced a handful of times since, both in audio recordings and meetings with other high-ranking ISIS members.
Ismail al-Eithawi, an ISIS fighter who was captured in Iraq, told the Journal last year he met with al-Baghdadi in eastern Syria in the spring of 2017. Al-Baghdadi arrived several hours after everyone else and multiple security measures were taken to ensure no added attention was paid to the building.
There is a $25 million bounty on al-Baghdadi's head.
Several of al-Baghdadi's top commanders have been killed over the years, according to the Associated Press, and his influence in day-to-day operations for the terror group — which recently lost its last chunk of land in Syria — is believed to be minimal. Still, his capture would deal a symbolic blow.
"The Coalition is not holding him nor do we know where he is," U.S.-led coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan said.
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