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United States President Donald Trump’s announcement Sunday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid by US special forces dominates foreign media coverage.
The New York Times’ banner headline read, “Leader of Islamic State Dies in Commando Raid, U.S. Says”. Washington Post is more detailed in its headline — “Trump says Islamic State leader Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. troops closed in”.
In the UK, Daily Mail has a long and dramatic headline, “How US gunships cornered ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before he dragged three children with him into a tunnel and blew up a suicide belt — as Trump watched live on TV link ‘like a movie’”. The report is accompanied by a graphic that chronologically illustrates the raid and is captioned “Operation: Obliterate” in all-caps.
The New York Times: Trump “announced Sunday that a daring American commando raid in Syria this weekend culminated in the death” of Baghdadi “after a five-year international manhunt, claiming a significant victory even as American forces are pulling out of the area,” writes NYT.
It quotes Trump as saying that Baghdadi was “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way” as he was pursued by American military dogs”.
It also carries an interesting report with the headline — “Al-Baghdadi Raid Was a Victory Built on Factors Trump Derides”. Baghdadi’s death “vindicated the value of three traditional American strengths: robust alliances, faith in intelligence agencies and the projection of military power around the world,” it writes, “but President Trump has regularly derided the first two”.
Washington Post: The Post found itself on the receiving end of a controversy for a misleading headline. It carried an obituary of Baghdadi with the headline “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48”. This caused massive outrage on social media and the headline was soon changed to “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48”.
The Post also carries a report comparing Trump’s announcement on Baghdadi’s killing to Obama’s announcement on bin Laden. Obama was “wrapping up a solemn address announcing the death of Osama bin Laden”, it writes. On the other hand, Trump said that “Baghdadi ‘died like a dog,’” and employed “one of his favorite insults with his customary bravado — ‘He died like a coward’”.
NYT, The Times (UK), The Guardian (UK) and The Telegraph (UK) also carried obituaries of Baghdadi. NYT interviewed former aides, teachers, pupils and friends of the “the cunning and enigmatic black-clad leader of the Islamic State who transformed a flagging insurgency into a global terrorist network” to piece together his life. Guardian, in its obituary, writes that Baghdadi was the “was the most wanted and feared man on the planet.” Telegraph identifies him as “a former religious scholar and keen football player”.
The Israeli media also notes Baghdadi’s killing.
The Jerusalem Post: Besides the routine report on the incident, Jerusalem Post takes a look at Russia with the report — “ISIS leader Baghdadi dead? Russia wants more proof”. “Even if al-Bahdadi is dead, the point of view” that Major General Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson, “gave is that such a feat would have ‘no operational significance’ as it was Russian support of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad that defeated ISIS”.
Haaretz: Israeli newspaper Haaretz carries an analysis with the headline — “Baghdadi’s death is symbolic victory for Trump — but can’t undo damage done in Syria”. It warns, “It should be noted that Baghdadi has been declared dead a number of times, including after a Russian bombing at the beginning of the year” but the US is “showing a great deal of confidence” this time.
Al Jazeera: Al Jazeera claims that it was the first to reach the site of the raid and carries an “exclusive” video report of the same. It also traces the reactions from prominent world leaders, including from that of Turkey, Israel, France, etc. The report features a tweet by the Iranian information minister Mohammed Javad Azari-Jahromi, saying “not a big deal. You just killed your creature”.
South China Morning Post: The newspaper republishes an interesting story by Politico with the headline — “How Donald Trump gabbed too much about the raid that killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”. Trump’s announcement “revealed a slew of sensitive details about the secret military operation that could imperil future raids, special operations and intelligence, veterans fear,” says the piece.
Prime Time
Back in India, TV discussions were few and far between on a fairly quiet Diwali.
There was extensive coverage during the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrating Diwali with army personnel in Rajouri — his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of Article 370, Manohar Lal Khattar being sworn in as chief minister of Haryana and Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya.
Zee News went live in Ayodhya for Diwali with Ram ‘katha’ and ‘bhajans’ in ‘Ye Diwali Sri Ram wali’.
There was also news of the denial of air space to Prime Minister Modi by Pakistan — ‘Pak continues to throw tantrums’, said Times Now.
On NDTV India, anchor Nagma spoke to actors Tapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar for their latest film Saand ki Aankh.
Republic TV: The shouting match made up for the lack of patakas on Diwali as panelists yelled at each other on the state of the middle class.
BJP spokesperson Tuhin Sinha said, “Just take a look at the number of new first-time flyers. The middle class has got wings now. We have made them more aspirational.”
JD(S) spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed looked directly into the camera when he brought up the PMC bank scam — “People with big chunk of money in PMC Bank had withdrawn money. Now we need to see who was behind this…is it the state government which is running in Maharashtra which is responsible (for this) or the national government? Either of these two governments have to be responsible and apparently both happen to be BJP. The looters…”
The rest of his address was drowned out. Anchor Arnab Goswami had to finally hit the boxing ring-bell to get his panelists to calm down.
Aaj Tak: After Manohar Lal Khattar and Dushyant Chautala took oath as the Haryana chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively, anchor Rohit Sardana discussed the opposition’s reaction to it, saying it was a case of sour grapes for them.
Congress’ Chetan Singh was visibly annoyed; “…the person who was in jail for corruption charges was seen today in the swearing-in ceremony (referring to INLD’s Ajay Chautala).
Former AAP member Ashutosh questioned BJP’s principles: “Firstly, BJP criticises Lalu Yadav and his family for corruption and then goes on to join hands with a party whose mentors are in jail under corruption charges”.
BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain responded by saying that many leaders from the Congress are on bail. “We have only respected people’s mandate and formed a stable government,” he added.
Senior journalist Alok Mehta said, “The only solution is to pass a resolution in Parliament disallowing any person to contest for elections, who has a chargesheet against them, but then half of the members of all these political parties will disappear”.