IS post-Baghdadi
On October 31, five days after the reported killing of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s central media outlet al-Furqan released an audio message from one Abu Hamza al-Qurashi -- identified as IS’s new spokesman -- announcing the death of Baghdadi and the group’s previous spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir. The message affirmed that a new 'caliph' called Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi had been chosen, and that IS soldiers and supporters of what the group describes as true Islam should hurry to pledge allegiance to him.
There is no evidence of an al-Qaida-IS rapprochement.
For a reconciliation to take place, IS would have to cease claiming to be a caliphate.
Non-IS jihadists reject rapprochement with the group and consider even IS defectors to be ‘renegades’ (‘khawarij’).
