On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS), died during an American military operation. The moment was seen as a victory for the Trump administration, particularly after receiving bipartisan criticism for pulling troops out of northern Syria.
WGBH News analyst Charlie Sennott said that while Al-Baghdadi’s death is a significant blow to ISIS, it does not mean that the group is defeated. He warned that in the wake of Baghdadi’s death, the United States and its allies should be prepared for ISIS to try and regroup.
“I think you’ll see that there will, sadly, be an attempt to carry out more attacks,” Sennott said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Monday. “They’re not dead yet, and we shouldn’t kid ourselves that they are.”
Sennott also criticized Trump for his braggadocio during a press conference on Sunday, during which Trump claimed that he called for Osama Bin Laden to be killed in 2000. He also implied that the September 11, 2001 attacks never would have occurred had more people listened to him.
“President Trump in the press conference this weekend turned what should have been a victory into a train wreck,” Sennott said.
Sennott is the founder and CEO of the GroundTruth Project.
