The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commander of the Islamic State group, killed last weekend during a U.S. military operation in Syria, is a victory for the forces of stability and sanity. However, the threat of the extremist group has not ended. That will happen only when a genuine structure of peace and order is created in the volatile Middle East. That future is a long way away.
Al-Baghdadi headed the group that engaged in savage killings and broadcast them to the world in hopes of inspiring similar acts. He led the self-proclaimed caliphate that occupied a sprawling patch of territory in the Middle East, wielded a mighty military and marshalled formidable financial resources.
A devout and charismatic leader, Al-Baghdadi was a committed jihadist who spent a year in a U.S. prison in Iraq and then rose to lead IS, the group that shook the world when it took control of a patch of land the size of Great Britain which straddled the Syrian and Iraqi borders and declared in 2014 the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, a caliphate that demanded the allegiance of Muslims around the world. It ruled with an iron fist. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights concluded that the group "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey."