On February 4, 2022, Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired an interview with captured senior ISIS commander Abdul Nasser Qaradash. In the interview, Qaradash discussed ISIS leader Abdullah Qaradash, a.k.a Ibrahim Al-Qurayshi, who was killed in a U.S. special forces raid on February 3, 2022. Qardash criticized the leader’s ruling that Yazidis who converted to Islam and people who were promised safety by ISIS should be killed nonetheless, and he said that this was a violation of shari’a law. Abdul Nasser Qaradash also described previous attempts on the leader’s life and how he, Abdullah Qaradsah, and other senior ISIS leaders would keep suicide belts near them and would wear them when traveling around Syria in case American forces attacked them.
Qaradash said that he does not know of anyone who is fit to become the leader of ISIS now that the previous leader is dead, with the possible exception of Abu Saad Al-Nu’eimi, who may also be dead. Qaradash elaborated that none of the senior ISIS members he knows are left, that the “first generation” of ISIS is over, and that Abdullah Qaradash’s death will have a serious impact on ISIS. In addition, Abdul Nasser Qardash explained that ISIS’s Shura Council is typically responsible for nominating a new leader.
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