In a major coalition operation with the US, Iraqi Intelligence, and Turkish Intelligence, five major ISIS leaders captured by Iraqi Intelligence were announced via a tweet by President Trump. They were paraded on Iraqi TV in yellow jumpsuits on Wednesday. They have been interrogated for several weeks since their capture earlier this spring.
The men were tracked for three months as they moved through Turkey and Syria. The sting operation lured the men into crossing to Iraq from Syria, according to OANN. A Telegram messaging APP on a cellphone belonging to a previously captured ISIS leader led the men to fall for the sting.
Photos of the men only reveal four of them, as the other image was “too gruesome” to be shown, according to the Express UK – the man was grinning while standing by a row of severed heads. The ISIS leaders captured were Saddam Al-Jamal, Omar Shahab Al-Karbouli, Issam Al-Zawba’ie, Ismail al-Eithawi, and Mohammed Al-Qadir.
Iraqi Intelligence announce they have captured 5 high ranking ISIS commanders in a daring mission which lured to across the border. One captured is Saddam Al-Jamal, originally from Al-Bukamal #Syria #ISIS #Iraq pic.twitter.com/T3bUq0Xku0
— Gareth Browne (@BrowneGareth) May 9, 2018
Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018
5 Most Wanted #ISIS Leaders Captured in Iraq – https://t.co/SUHawvBVTd #OANN pic.twitter.com/jEj9vDIn76
— One America News (@OANN) May 10, 2018
Fantastic victory for Pres. Trump and Defence Sec. Mattis after joint U.S.-Iraqi-Turkish sting operation captures 5 top ISIS leaders. pic.twitter.com/8ybfe4pS4I
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) May 10, 2018
Wow. I wonder if these are the guys Obama have back in exchange for Bergdahl? The count for the past 12 hours is pretty impressive. 3 captive brought home 5 isis leaders captured. Today is a good day. https://t.co/Xjo900RKGp
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 10, 2018
As nice as it sounds, they were not captured on May 10, and it had little to do with all the other awesome things that the President is doing even though he did tweet it. The ISIS leaders captured were the product of US intelligence and Iraqi intelligence working together on the operation some time ago. Iraqi troops snagged the men as they attempted to cross into their country. ISIS has been steadily losing for months.
