Caliph of the Islamic State | |
---|---|
![]() Jihadist flag | |
Inaugural holder | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi |
Formation | 7 April 2013 |
This is a list of leaders of the Islamic State since the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq.
No. | Portrait | Name
(Birth–Death) |
Time of Leadership | Note(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Announced | Left office | Time in office | ||||
1 | ![]() |
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
حَمِيدُ دَاوُدَ مُحَمَّدُ خَلِيلِ ٱلزَّاوِيِّ (1959–2010) |
15 October 2006 | 18 April 2010 | 3 years, 185 days | Al-Baghdadi was killed when a joint operation of US and Iraqi forces rocketed a safe house 10 kilometers (6 mi) southwest of Tikrit.[1] |
2 | ![]() |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
أَبُو بَكْرٍ ٱلْبَغْدَادِيُّ (1971–2019) |
18 April 2010 | 7 April 2013 | 2 years, 354 days | The position was succeeded by a caliph after ISIL announced the establishment of a worldwide caliphate. |
No. | Portrait | Name
(Birth–Death) |
Time of Leadership | Note(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Announced | Left office | Time in office | ||||
1 | ![]() |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
أَبُو بَكْرٍ ٱلْبَغْدَادِيُّ (1971–2019) |
7 April 2013 | 27 October 2019 | 6 years, 203 days | On 27 October 2019, US Joint Special Operations Command's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D) along with soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment conducted a raid through air space controlled by Russia and Turkey into the rebel-held Idlib province of Syria on the border with Turkey to capture al-Baghdadi.[2][3] He was cornered in a tunnel and died by self-detonating a suicide vest, killing alongside two other young children.[4][5] |
2 | ![]() |
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi
أبو الحسن القرشي (1976–2022) |
31 October 2019 | 3 February 2022 | 2 years, 95 days | On 3 February 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation in the town of Atme in Idlib, resulting in the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi by a suicide vest which also killed 12 others.[6][7] |
3 | Abu al-Hasan al-Qurashi
أبو الحسن القرشي (19??-2022) |
10 March 2022 | 15 October 2022 | 219 days | Little is known about al-Qurashi. According to Iraqi security and government officials, al-Qurashi was the elder brother of former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Research published by Hisham al-Hashimi in 2020 stated that al-Qurashi headed the five-member Shura Council. He killed himself on 15 October 2022 by detonating a suicide vest during an operation carried out by former Free Syrian Army rebels which had aligned with government forces in Daraa province.[8][9][10] | |
4 | ![]() |
Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi
أبو الحسن القرشي (19??-2023) |
30 November 2022 | 29 April 2023 | 150 days | Abu al-Hussein was announced as the new leader of Islamic State by Abu Omar al-Muhajir, in the same audio that confirmed Abu al-Hasan's death.[10] The Islamic State announced on August 3, 2023 that Abu al-Hussein was killed by Tahrir al-Sham militants in Idlib province.[11] |
5 | ![]() |
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi
ابو حفص الهاشمي القريشي (born 19??) |
3 August 2023 | Incumbent | 252 days | Abu Hafs was announced as the new leader of Islamic State, in the same audio that confirmed Abu al-Hussein's death.[12] |
List of known leaders of the international branches of the Islamic State part of the worldwide caliphate.