ISIS Likely to Pick Battle-Hardened Iraqi as Next Leader, Say Officials, Analysts

A suveillance image shows a compound housing the leader of ISIS Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, who had led ISIS since the death in 2019 of its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in northwest Syria prior to a raid executed by US forces February 2, 2022. Picture taken February 2, 2022. (Reuters)

The next leader of ISIS is likely to be from a close circle of battle-hardened Iraqi extremists who emerged in the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion, two Iraqi security officials and three independent analysts said.

The group of potential successors to Abu Ibrahim al-Quraishi, who blew himself up during a US operation to capture him in Syria last week, includes one commander whom Washington and Baghdad declared killed last year, the Iraqi officials said.