The fate of the executioner is still uncertain. Despite the euphoria of the early hours, the certainty of the elimination of Mohammed Emwazi is missing. We explain why.
When a drone comes into action in hostile territory, one has the "almost" certainty of being about to hit a sensitive target. Communications monitoring allows you to proceed, with relative security, against a potential enemy. The problems, however, begin after the raid. The only method to confirm that a target has been eliminated is to take a DNA sample and analyze it. This ability, however, depends on access to the ground. This is highly unlikely in Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State.
If Emwazi died, in the coming hours it could be the ISIS itself that communicates to the world its elimination. In any case, it would mean nothing, because it could also be a misdirection. The raid confirms the impressive US surveillance network, but also the gaps of an apparatus not physically present in the field.
Earlier this year, the FBI confirmed the death of a terrorist, Zulkifli bin Hir, after conducting DNA tests on the man's finger found at the raid scene by the commando who killed him in the Philippines. Three years earlier he had been found killed in an airstrike.
A few minutes ago it was learned that in a hospital in Raqqa a high profile figure of English origin would be in a desperate condition.
(photo: US Air Force)
