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The Isil leader remains at large even as his so-called caliphate has crumbled in Syria and Iraq. He may have been injured in an air strike and is believed to be hiding in eastern Syria close to the Iraqi border. Turkish and Western intelligence agencies will be hopeful that Haddawi might be able to provide information on Baghdadi’s whereabouts.

Hassan Hassan, senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, described Haddawi as a “mid-level leader” in the jihadist group.

Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Anadalou, Turkey’s state news agency, said Haddawi was responsible for the massacre of 700 civilians in Deir Ezzor during his time as emir. The agency appeared to be referring to the killing of hundreds of members of the Shaitat, a Sunni tribe that rose up against Isil rule in 2014.

Haddawi is also the brother-in-law of a relative of Saddam al-Jamal, a Syrian fighter who deserted the Free Syrian Army and joined Isil in 2013.

Jamal went on to become a senior Isil leader and was later involved in producing the jihadists’ execution videos. Jamal was reportedly captured by Western-backed Kurdish forces in October as they advanced through the Euphrates River valley. Europol said an operation was conducted this week by European countries including Britain, as well as the US, which may identify administrators who help run Isil propaganda, and possibly lead to the jihadists’ supporters in Europe and elsewhere.

On Wednesday and Thursday, police seized Isil servers in the Netherlands, Canada, and the US, as well as digital evidence in other countries. British counter-terrorism investigators “took the lead in the referral of processing of top-level domain registrars abused by” Isil, Europol said yesterday.