Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was not the first leader of ISIS, nor was he who they thought would be the leader. But when two of his predecessors in the position are killed, he becomes the head of the organization. Due to his religious and leadership skills, he manages to bring ISIS to unprecedented achievements. Under his leadership, ISIS conquered territories in Iraq and Syria the size of Great Britain, and the Islamic State numbered tens of thousands of fighters from all over the world.
Al-Baghdadi understood the power of the networks and sowed terror and fear in the world, but also enthusiasm for the Islamic caliphate he founded and headed as a successor. The unimaginable cruelty of ISIS in general and al-Baghdadi in particular was unknown in the Muslim world and many Arab countries came out against him.
He aspired to abolish the borders in the Middle East and establish an Islamic caliphate over the entire region. He called himself “the border breaker” and aspired to reach Jerusalem. In Israel they feared that ISIS would undermine the regimes of the region, mainly Syria and Jordan, and that the Islamic State would indeed reach our borders, carry out attacks and launch missiles. Israeli intelligence was very afraid of ISIS entering Jordan and even worked to prevent it. Al-Baghdadi clearly stated that his goal is also the destruction of Israel and there was a fear – partially realized – that new threats would emerge from Syria, Jordan and Sinai. The intelligence monitored and thwarted the activities of ISIS not only in the region, but also warned various countries in the world against future attacks and helped a lot in preventing them. Not all were foiled. There were attacks that al-Baghdadi carried out widely and caused the death of many Europeans in brutal attacks.
Al-Baghdadi is one of the most intriguing figures among the terrorist leaders, who greatly changed the way Israel and the United States deal with jihadist organizations. Organizations that, like ISIS, have ambitions to spread and establish a state, as happened again in Afghanistan with the Taliban organization.