The new ISIS leader Salbi is an Islamic scholar who has allowed rebels to suppress and arrest thousands of Yazidi women as sex slaves.

Two British intelligence sources said that Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, one of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) founders, was identified as the new leader of the rebel group. He came to power just hours after the supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US raid in October 2019 in Syria.

At that time, IS announced that Baghdadi's successor was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. However, intelligence agencies believe that this is a fake name because the leaders of the organization often use the new name after being appointed, so it could not immediately verify the mysterious new leader.

Three months after the operation to destroy Baghdadi, agents in the region and Western intelligence have joined together to identify and identify Salbi as the new IS leader, and have a fuller view of him.

Born into a Turkish-Iraqi family in the town of Tal Afar, in northwestern Iraq, Salbi is one of the few non-Arab rebels to rise to the ranks of IS commanders. He also had another name: Haji Abdullah, or some people called Abdullah Qardash. However, Iraqi officials say Abdullah Qardash is another IS rebel who died two years ago.

Salbi had been a soldier and supposedly had at least one son. He is described as brutal and has a vision similar to Baghdadi, not afraid to show loyalty to IS and one of the leaders when organizing the decision. While IS rebels are increasingly languishing in the face of repeated defeats on the battlefield, Salbi is said to be the rare person who still maintains the organization's extremist ideology.

In 2004, Salbi was detained by the US military at the Bucca Camp Prison in Umm Qasr City, southern Iraq, where he met Baghdadi and became close friends. According to intelligence sources, after Baghdadi was released from prison and founded IS, Salbi quickly advanced in the organization thanks to her background as an Islamic scholar, possessing a Islamic law degree from Mosul University.

With this qualification, Salbi is called "Professor" or "Terminator" in the organization, making religious rulings for IS rebels to commit crimes. Salbi allowed rebels to throw stones to death for those who committed adultery, or to throw homosexuals from high-rise buildings to the ground.

He is also the man responsible for the genocidal campaign against the Yazidi, one of the most persecuted religious minority groups in Iraq. With Salbi's ruling, IS militants murdered Yazidi men and young men and raped them, arrested thousands of these ethnic women, turning them into sex slaves, being sold and sold as goods.

The US Department of State has offered a $ 5 million reward for the person who found Salbi and two other senior IS members. Sources say that Salbi was selected as a potential replacement for Baghdadi in August 2019, who was ailing, but the process of confirming the succession took several months.

Since taking over power, Salbi is said to be trying to unite and consolidate the new IS commanders, because nearly all of them are new rebel generations, too young to play an important role. in missions.

The hunt for Salbi has expanded to Turkey, where his brother Adel Salbi is representing a political party. The new IS leader is said to remain in contact with his brother until coming to power. Intelligence officials do not have much information about his whereabouts, but think he will not follow Baghdadi to Idlib province, Syria, but rather be able to reside in some town west of Mosul, Iraq.

In the IS recording released after Baghdadi's death to announce his successor, the organization's spokesman called on followers to be loyal to the new "king", a man who once fought with American forces and held clear about the war, and at the same time advising Americans "not to be excited".

"United States, did you know that IS is at the doorstep of Europe and is present in Central Africa? The organization is also expanding and remains from east to west," said the recording.

ISIS has lost much of its control and has not regained any momentum like the peak in mid-2014, when Baghdadi declared itself the king of the Islamic world. However, rebels have been showing signs of reform since losing their last stronghold in the desert region of eastern Syria in March 2019.

Kurdish militia forces in northern Iraq last year warned of increased attacks on central and northern parts of the country. IS claimed responsibility for 106 attacks from December 20 to 26 in revenge for the deaths of Baghdadi and Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, the IS spokesman died on the same day as the former leader.

"The IS networks in the countryside are mostly intact. After all, the IS militants in Iraq still receive a monthly salary and are trained in remote mountainous areas. That network helps organize the situation," he said. even if they were defeated militarily, "a senior Iraqi official said.