On the 27th of October, the world woke up to the news of a US military operation in northern Syria that had led to the killing of the ‘Caliph’ of the so-called Islamic State (IS). In the evening of the same day, President Donald Trump confirmed the operation in a press conference by saying “al-Baghdadi is dead.”
What does the killing of al-Baghdadi mean? What are its repercussions? will it disrupt the group's activity? To answer these questions and many others, this talk will explore the history of both IS and al-Qaeda, their ideological and doctorial tenets and the religious, political and social factors that led to their emergence in the first place. It will further argue that similar to the killing Osama Bin laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2011 and 2006 respectively, al-Baghdadi’s elimination will not put an end to his group.