The raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's secret compound

The planning for Operation Kayla Mueller began six weeks before the raid last Saturday which resulted in the death of the world's most wanted terrorist leader. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Isis founder, had moved to his final home at a compound in Barisha, in Idlib province, northwest Syria, in mid-July. However, despite constant surveillance by American satellites and surveillance drones, there were two reasons why US military chiefs were forced to bide their time: Baghdadi had already shown that he was paranoid about staying long at any one location; and the Barisha compound was in the middle of an al-Qaeda-controlled region of Syria, four miles south of the Turkish border and where the Russian and Syrian air forces dominated with constant combat air patrols. The raid in May 2011 on Osama bin Laden's compound outside the city of Abbottabad in Pakistan had been complex enough because the US military had to breach Pakistani airspace without being detected. A huge Pakistani army barracks was also located in Abbottabad. However, planning for Operation Kayla Mueller, named after the American aid worker murdered by Isis, had to take into account the possibility of hostile confrontation not just from Isis fighters guarding Baghdadi but also from al-Qaeda-linked militia, Syrian air defences and Russian combat aircraft.The military planners at US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, devised an operational framework which would involve a massed array of firepower and the deployment of the US military's most specialised and elite troops.The build-up of intelligence over the previous three and a half months, led by the CIA, had provided near-certainty that Baghdadi was still at the Barisha compound. He had never left the complex, and the "crown jewels" information provided by a trusted but disillusioned Baghdadi bodyguard recruited by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces finally convinced the Pentagon and the White House that the moment for a raid had come. The assault force selected for the raid had been training on a replica of the Barisha compound constructed at a military base outside Arbil in northern Iraq where the US Army's Delta Force special operations unit has had a permanent team for several years. The assault force was put on high-readiness alert in the second week of October. The timing of the raid on Baghdadi's compound would depend on the lunar cycle and last-moment intelligence of all the ingredients that would play a part in the success or failure of the mission: Baghdadi's confirmed location and Russian and Turkish acceptance of an imminent US operation in the Idlib region.The raiding party consisted of two key components: around 30 members of Delta Force would carry out the breach of the compound and hunt for Baghdadi while eliminating any threats and removing civilians, and 50-60 soldiers from 75th Ranger Regiment, the "shock troops" of the US Army, would guard the compound perimeter to confront any "hostiles" approaching the building and to prevent anyone - especially Baghdadi - from escaping. The assault force of an estimated 80-100 troops arrived close to the compound at 1am local time in eight helicopters, a mix of MH-47 Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks, all especially modified for special operations missions at night. They came from the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment known as the Night Stalkers, also used in the Bin Laden raid. The troop-carrying helicopters were backed by 3-4 Apache attack helicopters armed with Hellfire missiles, up to six armed Reaper drones, F-15s (used for destroying the compound) and what the Pentagon described as "fifth generation" fighter aircraft, either F-22 Raptors or F-35 Lightning IIs. The US Navy was also on alert in the region if required. Navy officials said that at the time of the raid there were two guided-missile cruisers, three guided-missile destroyers and, notably, USS Lewis B Puller, an expeditionary mobile base vessel designed to support US Marine and special operations missions. They were all in the Arabian Gulf area, close enough to make a contribution if needed. The nearest carrier was USS Abraham Lincoln but it was in the Northern Arabian Sea, too far to play a role. On the ground, Operation Kayla Mueller took two hours. Once all the civilians had been removed to safety, questioning by the Delta Force team produced crucial intelligence: confirmation that Baghdadi was still inside and the whereabouts of tunnels where he might be hiding. With the Rangers surrounding the compound, Delta Force knew they had time to locate Baghdadi. Conan, one of the combat-veteran military working dogs with Delta Force, hunted down Baghdadi to one of the tunnels where he had gone along with two of his children, both under 12. President Trump and his top team of advisers waiting and watching 6,000 miles away in the White House situation room bunker knew they had their man when one of the Delta Force commandos shouted "Jackpot". How certain were they that it was Baghdadi's body parts spread around the tunnel after he had detonated his suicide vest? Thanks to a DNA sample taken from Baghdadi when he was a prisoner at the American Camp Bucca detention facility in Iraq in 2004, the level of certainty that it was a match was "one in 104 septillion". And that, said General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, commander of US Central Command and overall in charge of Operation Kayla Mueller, was "beyond a shadow of doubt". Baghdadi's body parts were buried at sea, probably from off USS Lewis B Puller which has deck space for a Chinook or Black Hawk.