The United States President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that five "most wanted" ISIL leaders have been captured in Iraq.

"Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!," Trump wrote on his official Twitter account, after the Iraqi state television on Wednesday said the country's intelligence agency lured the ISIL terrorists into crossing Syria and arrested them.

Col. Ryan Dillon, the U.S.-led Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve’s (CJTF-OIR) spokesman also mentioned the arrest of five ISIL leaders in his Twitter post.

"Iraq captures 5 key ISIL leaders during Operation Round up. The arrest is a significant blow to ISIL...," he said, adding: “CJTF-OIR is committed to lasting defeat of ISIL and setting conditions for stabilization."

On Wednesday, the Iraqi state television announced the capturing of the high ranking ISIL terrorists and published their photographs and identity cards.

Iraqi security sources, who wished to remain anonymous due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said the terror group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is hiding somewhere at the Iraq-Syria border.

Last December, officials in Baghdad declared that ISIL's military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled over operations backed by the U.S.-led International Alliance.

However, from time to time, Iraqi officials announce operations against ISIL-affiliated "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country. </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that five of the “most wanted” ISIS leaders have been captured.

Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve Army Col. Ryan Dillon tweeted on Thursday that Iraq captured five key ISIS leaders as part of Operation Roundup. The tweet did not specify when or where the five were captured, nor give any names.

Dillon’s tweet said the capture was a coordinated operation between Iraqi and the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

We will update this developing story as we learn more. </s> Donald Trump said on Thursday that five “most wanted” leaders of the Islamic State militant group had been captured, an apparent reference to the capture of five commanders of the militant group by Iraq.

“Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!” Trump wrote on Twitter, providing no further details.

Iraq had described the capture of the Isis commanders as “some of the most wanted” leaders of the group. The list did not include Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 



Earlier on Thursday, the New York Times reported that five senior Isis members including an aide to Baghdadi had been captured following a three-month operation carried out by Iraqi and US intelligence agencies. 



The operation tracked senior Isis leaders who had been in hiding in Syria and Turkey, the report said. </s> President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that five of the most wanted Islamic State group leaders have been captured, adding to what many in the media noted has been a strong week of accomplishment for his administration.

The New York Times reported, “Five senior Islamic State officials have been captured, including a top aide to the group’s leader, in a complex cross-border sting carried out by Iraqi and American intelligence, two Iraqi officials said Wednesday.”

According to The Times, the capture of the Islamic State leaders, which was part of a three month sting operation “represents a significant intelligence victory for the American-led coalition fighting the extremist group and underscores the strengthening relationship between Washington and Baghdad.”

Two Iraqi officials said those captured include four Iraqis and one Syrian and their responsibilities included governing the Islamic State group’s territory around the town of Deir ez-Zor, near the Iraq-Syria border.

Reuters reported the sting operation was precipitated by the February capture of Ismail al-Eithawi, a top aide to Islamic state leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“Iraqi agents then used the Telegram messaging app on his mobile phone to lure four commanders from the group to cross the border from Syria into Iraq and into a trap,” Iraqi government security adviser Hisham al-Hashimi told Reuters.

Hashimi said the operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. forces. The United States is leading a coalition of nations fighting Islamic State fighters on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.

The security adviser added that Iraqi and American intelligence agents were able to uncover banks accounts and secret communication codes used by the terrorist group as a result of the sting operation.

Baghdadi — who declared himself the ruler of the Islamic State following the capture of Mosul in northern Iraq in 2014 — is believed to be near the border region between Iraq and Syria.

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces retook Mosul — the last major Iraqi city held by the Islamic State — in July 2017, just six months into Trump’s presidency.

Reuters reported that the Islamic State group has now lost all the cities and towns that once made up its so-called caliphate.

“The noose is tightening around him,” Hashimi said, referring to Baghdadi.

Many took to social media to celebrate the good news Trump has received this week.

The president’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. wrote that it had been an “impressive” last 12 hours.

Even The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake, a fierce Trump critic, had to concede events have been going the president’s way.

Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro suggested Trump’s decision making is not too difficult to comprehend.

“Trump having himself an amazing week. As always, all he had to do was think ‘What Would Obama Do?’ And then do the opposite,” Shapiro wrote.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below. </s> WASHINGTON -- Five senior leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were captured in a joint operation involving U.S. and Iraqi forces. It is the latest defeat for the extremist group, which has lost nearly all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria.

The ISIS commanders' confessions were broadcast on Iraqi television this morning.

One by one, men in yellow jumpsuits and handcuffs admitted to being top ISIS leaders.

Their capture was the result of an elaborate intelligence operation run by Iraq and the U.S.

President Trump tweeted the announcement earlier Thursday.

Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018

First came the capture of Ismail al-Eithawi, described as a close aide to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

U.S. and Iraqi forces then used an app on Eithawi's mobile phone to lure the other men across the Syrian border and into Iraq where they were arrested.

The Iraqi government said information gather during interrogations led to an air strike it claims killed another 40 ISIS terrorists.

"These guys ... have an understanding of what's happened to ISIS post-caliphate, where the senior leaders are in general ... what their plans might be for going forward," former acting director of the CIA and CBS News senior national security contributor Michael Morrell said.

U.S. officials say ISIS leadership has been decimated through airstrikes and ground operations. But al-Baghdadi is believed to still be operating on the border between Syria and Iraq.

A still photo from video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance. Militant video/AP

"He is the main individual we are after, for two reasons," Morrell explained. "One is his removal would be a symbol of the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and he is a galvanizing force holding the rest of the group together. So if he went away, it would splinter apart."

U.S. officials view al-Baghdadi as a threat because in the last few years he has inspired attacks in the U.S., such as the 2015 San Bernardino attack which killed 14. The shooters in that incident pledged their allegiance to the ISIS leader. </s> US President Donald Trump tells European leaders to 'take back' more than 800 ISIL fighters held in Syria.

The end is near for ISIL's so-called caliphate.

That's according to US President Donald Trump, who says the armed group will be defeated in Syria within days.

US-backed Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces say they've cornered the last Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) remnants in a village near the Iraqi border.

In a tweet, Trump urged Europe to "take back" foreign fighters and put them on trial.

But European countries appear reluctant with one case particularly dividing opinion in the United Kingdom.

So what should be done with ISIL fighters captured in Syria? </s> BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces in co-ordination with U.S.-backed Syrian forces have captured five senior ISIL leaders, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday in a statement.

The arrest was a “significant blow to Daesh,” coalition spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon said, using the Arabic acronym for the extremist group.

A Pentagon spokesman, Marine Maj. Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway, said the U.S. credited Iraqi security forces with the militants’ capture “on the Iraq-Syria border.”

“These arrests are a significant blow to (ISIL) as we continue to remove its leadership and fighters from the battlefield,” Rankine-Galloway said.

ISIL fighters no longer control significant pockets of territory inside Iraq, but do maintain a grip inside Syria along Iraq’s border.

The U.S.-led coalition supported Iraqi ground forces and Syrian fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces in the more than three-year war against ISIL.

After Iraqi forces retook the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIL last summer, Syrian forces on the other side of the border claimed a series of swift victories, but the campaign was stalled recently when Turkey launched a cross-border raid into Syria’s north.

Earlier this month the coalition announced a drive to clear the final pockets of ISIL territory inside Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about the anti-ISIL raid Thursday, saying those arrested were the “five most wanted” ISIL “leaders.” It was unclear what criteria, if any, Trump was using to describe the ISIL operatives as the “five most wanted.”

A U.S. national security official said there were no indications that the operation had captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL who has long been the coalition’s top target. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the targets publicly and requested anonymity.

Last year the Pentagon said that there were “some indicators” that al-Baghdadi was still alive a month after Russia claimed to have killed him in a strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa.

None of the statements released Thursday from the president or the coalition named the ISIL fighters arrested.

ISIL fighters swept into Iraq in the summer of 2014, taking control of nearly a third of the country. At the height of the group’s power their self-proclaimed caliphate stretched from the edges of Aleppo in Syria to just north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Now, with the group’s physical caliphate largely destroyed, anti-ISIL operations are increasingly focused on targeting the extremists’ remaining leadership.

— Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report </s> The US Defense Department said on Friday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) no longer holds any territory in Syria, according to a White House spokeswoman.

US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan briefed President Donald Trump as he was travelling to Florida on Air Force One, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

She said that the "territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria". Responding to a question regarding whether the armed group's territory had be "100 percent" eliminated, Sanders said "yes".

She directed other questions regarding the announcement to the Pentagon.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has not commented on the White House's announcement.

Earlier on Friday, the SDF said it had captured most of ISIL's last enclave in Baghouz, but there were still pockets of ISIL fighters.

The SDF has been battling for weeks to defeat ISIL in Baghouz in southeastern Syria at the Iraqi border. It was all that remained of the territory the armed group ruled, which once spanned a third of Syria and Iraq.

A Reuters journalist in Baghouz heard air strikes there on Friday afternoon and saw smoke rising.

Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, said that difficulty, however, is that "ISIL hasn't gone away and everyone knows that".

"Trump will undoubtedly get the victory that he wanted ... but the group hasn't gone away," Fisher said.

Shortly after Sanders made the comments to reporters, Trump tweeted, "ISIS uses the internet better than almost anyone, but for all of those susceptible to ISIS propaganda, they are now being beaten badly at every level."

Trump had been teasing Friday's announcement for days. On Wednesday, he said the group would be "gone by tonight", showing reporters two maps that he claimed to show the reduction of ISIL's territory since he was elected president in 2016.

In December, Trump unexpectedly announced that he was pulling all 2,000 American troops out of Syria, declaring that ISIL had been defeated.

He walked back on that announcement, however, as military generals and politicians expressed fear that such a move would allow the group to re-emerge. He was then persuaded to leave about 400 troops in Syria. </s> BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi political and militia leaders condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise visit to U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, and lawmakers said a meeting between Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi was cancelled due to a disagreement over venue.

Sabah al Saadi, the leader of the Islah parliamentary bloc, called for an emergency session of parliament “to discuss this blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and to stop these aggressive actions by Trump who should know his limits: The U.S. occupation of Iraq is over.”

The Bina bloc, Islah’s rival in parliament and led by Iran-backed militia leader Hadi al-Amiri, also objected to Trump’s trip to Iraq.

“Trump’s visit is a flagrant and clear violation of diplomatic norms and shows his disdain and hostility in his dealings with the Iraqi government,” said a statement from Bina.

Abdul Mahdi’s office said in a statement that U.S. authorities had informed Iraq’s leadership of the president’s visit ahead of time. The statement said the Iraqi prime minister and U.S. president talked by telephone due to a “disagreement over how to conduct the meeting.”

Iraqi lawmakers told Reuters that the pair had disagreed over where their planned meeting should take place: Trump had asked to meet at the Ain al-Asad military base, an offer which Abdul Mahdi declined.

Trump’s visit comes amid a backdrop of escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, as Washington seeks to counter Iran’s sway in the Middle East. The formation of Iraq’s government has stalled as well amid intensifying discord between the Islah and Bina blocs.

Falih Khazali, a former militia leader turned politician allied with Bina, accused the United States of wanting to increase its presence in Iraq. “The American leadership was defeated in Iraq and wants to return again under any pretext, and this is what we will never allow,” he said.

Bina said Trump’s visit “places many question marks on the nature of the U.S. military presence and its real objectives, and what these objectives could pose to the security of Iraq.”

While there has been no full-scale violence in Iraq since Islamic State suffered a series of defeats last year, some 5,200 U.S. troops train and advise Iraqi forces still waging a campaign against the militant group.

Islah is headed by populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr has long opposed the U.S. presence in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. He led two uprisings against U.S. forces in Iraq and is one of the few Shi’ite leaders to also distance himself from Iran.

Iraq’s Shi’ite militias, also known as the PMF, many of which are supported by Iran, oppose the presence of U.S. troops in the region. The PMF was made formally part of the security forces this year after helping the military defeat Islamic State in Iraq in 2017.

Qais al-Khazali, the leader of the powerful Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia said on Twitter, “Iraqis will respond with a parliamentary decision to oust your (U.S.) military forces. And if they do not leave, we have the experience and the ability to remove them by other means that your forces are familiar with.”

Some Iraqis, however, were less concerned with the U.S. president’s visit.

“We won’t get anything from America,” said Baghdad resident Mohammad Abdullah. “They’ve been in Iraq 16 years, and they haven’t given anything to the country except destruction and devastation.”
President of the United States Donald Trump announces that five senior leaders of ISIL were captured in a joint operation involving US and Iraqi forces.