As I noted in my West Point CTC Sentinel study on the Islamic State s more recent caliphs, the group has had little to say in an official capacity about those who have succeeded the first caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in an American raid in
The U.S. operation in Syria sends a message to the Shi’ite militias in Iraq and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but it’s unlikely to deter the Islamic State