On Oct 31, the Islamic State’s (IS’) Al-Furqan media confirmed the killing of its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and spokesperson Abu Hassan Al-Muhajir by American forces.

The new IS spokesperson Abu Hamza Al-Quraishi announced that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashmi al-Quraishi has been appointed as the new IS leader, and urged supporters worldwide to pledge their allegiance to the new leader and avenge Baghdadi’s killing.

… IS could emerge stronger from Baghdadi’s killing. IS’ global expansion was the focus of Baghdadi before his death and Qardash is likely to continue that.

… Abdul Basit is a research fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.