Hiding in Idlib

Baghdadi has been in hiding for years, and was widely expected to be holding up in desert areas of eastern Syria or Iraq. That he has apparently been found in Idlib comes as a surprise.

Iraq reportedly handed Washington information he was there two months ago.

These arrests were made in Iraq in September, which suggests Baghdadi has definitely be in Idlib for *at least* two months. Iraqi National Intelligence Services passed the information to the US around this time, according to the official 2/
— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) October 27, 2019

Idlib, which is predominantly controlled by militant group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and regularly bombed by Russia and the Syrian government, has seen several raids on al-Qaeda and IS-linked groups.

It makes sense for Baghdadi to choose an unlikely place like Idlib, but I’m frankly surprised he wasn’t in Iraq. Syria was never going to be a good hiding place. Very likely he was moving around & most likely Turkey was involved. https://t.co/5UlzpejmXq
— Hassan I. Hassan (@hxhassan) October 27, 2019

Video and photographs of the compound attacked overnight show it totally levelled.

Confirmed
Activist says this is indeed filmed where #Baghdadi raid took place in #Barisha, #Idlib. #HTS stopped him on outskirts where a tough security cordon has been laid banning people from heading towards site. https://t.co/Uo8NkW8z1I
— Riam Dalati (@Dalatrm) October 27, 2019