Homeland Security Network Blog
The information source for first responders.
Africa: Islamic State’s Great ‘Capacity To Regenerate’ Itself
The Africa Report
Islamic State’s Great ‘Capacity To Regenerate’ Itself
By Mourad Kamel
The Islamic State armed group has been largely weakened in recent years, but under its new leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the terrorist organisation is regrouping and once again sowing its seeds of violence.
It was not until a week after the death of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019 in Idlib, Syria that the successor to the self-proclaimed Caliph was appointed: Muhammad Said Abd Al Rahman al-Mawla, officially known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
Once an unknown man, he is often referred to by his nickname Abu Omar al-Turkmani, or simply al-Turkmani, the Turkmen.
“Jihadist propaganda was thus trying to give credence to the fiction surrounding the leader, not only of Arab descent, but also a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed through his Quraych tribe and his Hashemite clan,” explains Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor in the contemporary Middle East history at Sciences-Po in Paris.
