this is cnn breaking news. >> i want to welcome our viewers. i'm paula newton at cnn center in atlanta. we have breaking news that al baghdadi is believed to have been killed in a raid in northwest syria. as u.s. special forces were closing in on him. final confirmation is pending dna analysis. he has been in hiding for five years.

we're told that locating him was based on crucial intel jenglige. i want to go to nick paton walsh in 2014, him declaring the isis caliphate. an incredible turn of events in the last couple of weeks. the u.s. has moved out of syria and we're retreating here. >> there's two things that are important to know. the author of the isis ideology appears to be dead. it's believed to be dead. the ideology can live on but it's hard to inspire, if the man

who placed elusive, evaded, is, in fact, dead, and was, in fact, killed. the other point you make, too, this is a badly needed victory for the united states in this area. their own commander in chief has spent the last fortnight eroding the position against isis, depriving them of tactical locations, handing over territory to turkey. and russia taking control at exactly the same time when they have to get out of town. they are still able to kill the most-wanted man. the best of times. this was the worst of times for the u.s. military. donald trump will be standing up in the next eight or nine hours, announcing what he referred to is something really big. we have increasing locations

that it will be the death of ail baghda baghdadi that announcement will be inspite of his own efforts. let's not losing sight of the key issue here, the death of the world's most wanted man. the vast majority of people who viewed the buildings, they saw savagery. they purported to what harkins back centuries ago. perhaps they found reverence that they exploited. they used online videos. messaging, telegram channels. the apparatus of the modern aid, that it's normal to corrupt

parts of the world that they enjoy. this happened in the philippines, in southern russia, in the streets of paris. this was an ideology that seems warped in their own mindset, lacking in something in their own daily lives that they let that into their minds and inspire acts against innocent civilians. so many of the isis attacks, they didn't care who they killed. that ideology has taken a substantial blow. al qaeda was not at their peak in 2012 or so. they were beginning to slow. but bin laden was still a free man. when he was killed, al qaeda went underground.

they took a body blow with the death of osama bin laden. a death, frankly, is storied by hollywood movies now because of the complexity and the daring of that operation. that was a definetive point in the decline of al qaeda. it certainly be a pivotal moment. you see the caliphate to iraq. that had his own way to gain revenue. one told me they had seen physical things, exported to raqqah. it was a basis of operations to some degree. and using the syrian kurds who fight along to kick isis out of that territory, reducing the

towns they had taken over to rubble in that fight. they were squeezed back to a tiny river of syria. in the early parts of this year. that particular bloody final defeat anything they could call their own in terms of territory. they still existed in people's hearts or souls who sympathize with them. they have children and wives in if shelters. people were wondering what that might have been. they may be able to regroup. now, if that manages to happen, instead because of the decision, they will do that without their

leader, al baghdadi. any message he sends in the way he chose to die, a death was not at the time of his choosing. they were able to find the man at their most complicated moment. and it appears that he is dead. we await confirmation from the u.s. commander in chief president trump. i'm startling that i'm able to give this message when we've seen nothing but the past few weeks. remarkable that it's been successful. there's a kurd at this complicated time for the u.s. here. >> it was symbolic at a time when isis is trying to reconstitute itself. i'm going to have you go by to sam kylie.

we're xheti igetting informatio was special forces on the intelligence. you connell imagine what it look to go into the region and execute it with success. a lot on the line. we saw it play out, frame-by-frame, after he learned only osama bin laden in pakistan and hoping that the details are similar here. >> whilst the osama bin laden raid was deep inside the territory of a sovereign nation, and they were not as speaking and opposed. the other mission was just inside syria. kilometer, three to five miles inside syrian territory, close to the border with turkey.

it's an area that's thick with different armed groups. not in that area, any special special forces. other groups that are opposed to bashar al asad. a lot of them extreme in their environment. it would appear that the cia was somehow able to track down baghdadi. and not just track him down but launch, in cooperation with u.s. special forces. a complex raid that eye witnesses would tell us. it involved aircraft, helicopters and also, the deployments on the field.

what happened on the battlefield? you have to get on to the ground. you have to get samples whether or not the targets were taken out. all of that requires a high degree of precision and considerable daring, not just getting in but getting out again, safely, without loss of life. we don't know if there are casualties at all. information is slowly emerging. we'll hear more from donald trump later in the day. what's important here, is to bear in mind, that whilst al baghdadi is dead, the ideology of the so-called islamic state still exists. and this martyrdom death would be attached to mythology of the locals spelling flowers and p s.

part of that process, that remains by the so-called islamic state, to try to inspire people around the world, to continue their operations and strike back at western targets. the allies and others in this fight, at a time when the u.s. was talking about sending more troops down to the oil field areas here. >> we had been talking about that in the last few days. i want to go back to april. six months ago. for a while, authorities thought he was killed in april. then, we got that message from

him, to say to heed that call. that was a moment, when all of the forces around the world, for them to say that isis was truly defeated, the symbolic leader, the ideological head was still alive. >> what happened in the jihadi was that it was for a period in time, to control a lot of territory. to give the impression of being an entity, controlled ground, rather than the al qaeda model, that will seed its ideology. that gave it brand leadership and followers to join its ranks to participate in what is a

twisted version of, they thought, of an ultraislamic utopia, with the rules and regulations dating back to the found inations of the religions. it has a magnetic appeal. then, we had an april audio tape. and it was affection to them to work in the underground. the caliphate was dedestroyed. it won't be definitive. they will bend this victory for the united states over the sigh disleddersh disleddership. the other leaders will bend it and try to use it as part of the

future underpinnings. the ideology lives on. well, al baghdadi did declare himself a caliphate. not even osama bin laden had the do that. >> they did have a caliphate in terms of territory. it is banished right now. the leading question is whether this will be a rallying point. his deaths and the militants that we talked about in sleeper cells in iraq. i'm glad you're there for us on the border.

stand by. we'll bring in josh campbell. he joins us on the phone to talk about what they would have needed in terms of cia intelligence. we know they would have gotten intelligence like this many, many times before. it is significant that at this moment in time, they had that tip, as they said, yes. special forces, commandos, will go in. >> exactly, paula. you look at the osama bin laden model. this is intelligence that the u.s. government had for quite a period of time. they were staring at imagery that this is a high-value target. what we don't know is if the intelligence was long in the making. if this was coming from a human

info perfo performance, that they had to act upon. that's what we're waiting to he hear. nevertheless, there would require a new approach. and the defense department, the pointy end of the spear to try to take out this target or capture him. one thing that's important to realize, is the pointy end of the spear, anywhere work is done now. u.s. special operations forces. there is a continuing threat, that continues, not only in the united states, but also in western countries that have been targets of attack from isis, and their sympathizers. and that relates to the possible retaliatory attacks. someone that was in the fbi, tracking the threat from southeast asia and the middle

east and the united states. the fbi stared at that set of facts and realized. one thing that did not happen is a retaliatory attack in the united states, by sympathizers that were angry as y. if intelligence committee is going to make sure that doesn't map. >> so important that you mention that and give us that context. in many of the places where i s isis-inspired attacks have gone on previously. you said, a whole government approach that will be needed to act on that intelligence. to be blunt, it's not something the trump administration has

been known for. do you think that this is something that the national security team would be able to work with it that they understand, no, i need all of the briefings before i give the go ahead to this. >> great question. there's the national authority. but whether or not he digests or absorbs the information that is provided. the intelligence company, they are monitoring and tracking the threats. we don't know what the nexus was here. did he come to the u.s.? was in a signal of intelligence. the united states and allies from have a robust population of

the world. it could have taken us to baghdadi. we don't know that yet. tactical operators are trying to find these high-target individuals. to capture or kill the leader of isis. but looking at the aftermath, that will be a second effect. whether or not he was killed in this operation, which was looking at bin laden. you have the ceo and the fbi, collecting dna and other analysis, to be sure they got their target. that will be on the ground. and backing up to this 30,000-foot view, without question, on high alert. questioning whether or not isis sympathizers that might be in their country, are looking at the possible killing of an isis leader and wondering if those who might subscribe to his beliefs they be on a retaliatory

attack. for u.s. allies around the world, this will be a multi-pronged effort and investigation, to protect their peec people from attack. >> as people have declared isis defeated over the last several months, those authorities, have their own suspects they have 24-hour surveillance kay sis. such great perspective. appreciate it. we want you to stay where you are, as we continue to cover the breaking news, that a military raid believes to have been killed.

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we're going to bob behr, who is a former cnn operative and cnn analyst. bob, you know, is it interesting as we try to take this all in and the significance. i want to pick up on the heightened state of alert that a lot of countries and national security committees will be in right now. you and i both know, the sleeper cells, in europe or canada or elsewhere, that authorities have, under surveillance right now, and will be worried about any revenge attacks. how valid is that worry?

>> i think it's very valid. they don't need orders to strike back. if there's a cell in paris or new york, they understand the death of baghdadi is a trigger to launch an attack. a lot of the cells are closed down through the years. and there's some we don't know about. they can't close down. and you can count on it in this country in the united states, the fbi will be on high alert, from right now, expecting some sort of retaliation. >> most definitely. it was a caliphate. it was territory. and in that sense, it was different from al qaeda. from the moment we saw him speaking and we see the video right now, in 2014, he made the speech with such hubris, could we have imagined that the amount of territory that he and isis took in a short amount of time,

i mean, bob, as you reflect on u.s. military off-guard and - also, intelligence, right? >> i used to deal with the iraqi tribes. i had never seen them in this case, go this far. to come out like this. and what struck me about it. it's not just hubris. the man was charismatic. beautiful arabic. educated. and for sunni muslims, he was a beacon. i don't think a lot of people felt how violent this was going to get and self-defeating. his departure is going to set it way back. he is a political figure to be

reckoned with. the fact he's died is going to be a significant event. >> i want to bring out something else. in terms of the media, we couldn't imagine how potent and insidious it was. media companies were playing catch-up with savage, visceral video, of violence we hadn't seen, playing over and over on phones and computers. >> the production values were incredible. it's people that were trained in the west that understand the audience. most of the recruiting for the islamic state, especially in the west, is on the internet. whether the attacks are in orlando, or on the internet, they weren't doing it in direct

contact. they were doing it over the internet. this is a modern movement. medieval on one hand. but they knew what they were doing. the only way to defeat them was militarily. that comes back to the kurds, who played such an important role to close baghdadi down. the reason he fled to the idlib area is because of the kurds. let's not forget that. >> a good point to be made. we were just reporting that turkey said to russia, if you can't get the kurdish forces out of the buffer zone, we will go in again. and they, the kurdish forces, are directly responsible in making sure that al baghdadi wasn't hiding, remained in hiding and was vulnerable in hiding to the u.s. raid we've seen in the last few hours. >> absolutely. we cannot forget. they defended themselves in

irb irbil. then, they expanded. and it would be the caliphate if it weren't for the kurds. we have to look at the idlib area and its base. if i were doing the raid, this is speculation, i would indict out of that base. you can take the helicopters and take ten of them and line them up. they only appear as one dot on radar. and you could get into idlib or anywhere around there with a huge force. you could jam radar and there's nothing the turks could do it about it. you could get in and fly over the kurds. they put baghdadi in a particularly vulnerable place. once you get the intelligence -- and mind you, this intelligence, isn't just a random report, you

have to have fundamentally eyes on the target, that would be baghdadi, that would be overall coverage, or people in the area because they don't do this on a fragmentary report. this has been in the works for a long time. and it was thorough. as thorough as abadbad. and they had to neutralize all of the forces in that area. it takes a considerable force. >> fascinating to insert yourselves into the briefings that donald trump had been getting, for the last few days, if not weeks, how they were getting intelligence on the ground, where they had the raid started and it is over. bob baer, appreciate it. a u.s. military raid is believed

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following breaking news out

of syria, that isis leader al baghdadi is believed to be killed in a u.s. raid. he apparently detonated a suicide vest as u.s. forces closed in. confirmation is still coming in. al baghdadi has been in hiding for five years, since you saw him there in that video, in we're told that locating him was based on cia intelligence. president trump is expected to make an announcement on sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. that's all we're told. the president telegrammed in a sweet saying, something big has happened. i want to bring in nick paton walsh.

how to come to something like this, a sole that embodied savagery through the years. >> something we've never seen, the intricately disgusting brutality that isis liked to employee, when they executed hoss dama hostages. there was a horrifying video, where the floor was drenched in flo blood. this is something we never saw with such explicit, unremitting detail that isis were able to harness. the death of al baghdadi, is a seismic moment for the policy. the fact that the security apparatus was able to withdrawal from syria on the campaign, but

achieve the goal simultaneously. here's a look at al baghdadi, the deceased leader, his life. his face in public, only once. even then, in the presence of a small number. this is the moment at friday prayers and a freshly conquered mosul, al baghdadi, creator of one of the most successful and inhuman terrorist networks in human history, chose to reveal himself. before the infamy of this pulpit, he spent a decade rising quietly. a ph.d. student said to like football, his records show a capture of forces in 2004, near fallujah. and held for years at u.s. camp bucca. it was there, one expert that knew him, that he turned. >> al baghdadi was not cruel or radical at the time. he wanted to fight the

americans. he leaned towards sectarian violence, in buick ka,buka. >> he knew my unit was from long island, new york. he looked over to us. as we left, he said, see you in new york. i look at those words in a different context. >> the savage civil war before hitting the sanctions list in 2011. here, he led the islamic state of iraq, the franchise, who previously, zarqawi, the u.s. killed. the increasingly sectarian violence became a magnet for the blood thirsty.

baghdadi, behind on isis brutality so extreme, leading the groups to split in february 2014. and months later, the group showing its fighters, breaking the borders of syria and iraq, declaring the caliphate. with baghdadi at its helm, claiming lineage from mohammed. this was baghdadi's moment, and isis rose fast. and then, can the attack and occupation off mosul. the besieging of kabani. horrors, by an obscene worship of violence. all this is visible and doubtless. one of more terrifying things about isis he created, is his

obsession of acts of murder. but its harnessing of social media, to create a global franchise amongst people, that it often never met. atrocities committed by people, to commit atrocities and even die for it. but in november 2014, rumors of an air strike hitting him, and within a week, a recording of his speech. it became a pattern. no public appearances, mixed with randomly released audio statements. officials believe he was injured in may of 2017, and had to take five months away. from that moment onwards, what was left of isis' caliphate collapsed in on itself. mosul, freed from their grip in july. isis reduced to a tiny slip of

land on the iraqi and syrian border. and an idea, infectious, hateful, capable of inspiring barbaric insanity. now, without its figurehead, a man willing to lead its followers to death, but only from the shadows. we don't know how that death fully occurred. a death in the shadows. that's where he chose to i'd still. and one, in which the hdetails - the resize location seemed likely idlib province. and how he came from running his own self-declared caliphate, under the franchise of isis, to hiding in al qaeda's territory

in syria. that seems to be where he was in idlib. a remarkable insight how jihadists in that area, to the competing strands of jihadi ideology of isis. a lot more detail will surely emerge in the hours ahead. it will be interesting to see how donald trump refuses to frame this. putting in the work. chasing down baghdadi. isolating himself to the point where he had no territory to roam anymore, was done over the priest administration. and despite the confusing signals, causing his own secretary of defense to resign, did try to leave syria and seems to have sent troops back in to

p p protect the oil fields. a remarkable moment for the u.s. security apparatus that they were able to, at this complex time, constantly changing signals here. still killed the number one target. you heard from bob baer, that they are waiting to achieve something. we don't want to overblow that too much. there hasn't been rationality of isis behavior around the world. most, i'm sure, will be concerned in various intelligence agencies in europe and beyond, to be sure that nothing occurs in the week or so. a remarkable moment for the middle east, for u.s. foreign policy and for those allies that assisted in the fight against

isis and lost people in it, too. a man who preached hate and managed to take the most disenfranchised and most suffering parts of the middle east, the sunnis, syrians and iraqis, to congeal into a hateful caliphate and a existed vision of islam, it seems deceased. >> it's with a shudder that al baghdadi said, i'll see you in new york. that's why there's trepidation and relief in cities around the world. in 2014, we had an isis-inspired attack with a truck. this has impacted people around the world. and unfortunately may continue to. nick paton walsh, continuing to stand by. we continue to cover a u.s.

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we want to remind you of a major leader of isis, has been believed to have been killed in a raid. a source says special operations commandos carried out the raid. al baghdadi has been in hiding for the last five years. in 2014, he proclaimed an isis caliphate. u.s. president donald trump is expected to make an announcement in the coming hours. that's what we've been told. the administration official said that the speech he will deliver will be foreign policy-related. he did say and tweeted out, that something really big has just happen e happened. ben wedeman, when you think of your experience in the spring.

50 days, you watched the last days days, hours of isis, as they tried to hang on. what are you thinking, now, as we seem to have two u.s. officials confirming to cnn, that they believe that al baghdadi is dead. >> it's significant. i was thinking about, what does all this mean? when we were interviewing, we interviewed dozens of isis wives and children. for few of them spoke about baghda baghdadi. their loyalty was to the islamic state. unlike, for instance, bin laden, who was a cult figure in al qaeda, al baghdadi wasn't seen as the embodiment of the

islamic state. he was seen as the head of it. you didn't have the cult of personality. osama bin laden, his fame goes back to the mid 1980s, during the soviet occupation of afghanistan. baghdadi, when he first appeared in july of 2014, announcing the position of the caliphate, he was in the unknown. even within iraq itself. he was an unknown figure. we know that the islamic state,

in afghanistan, in the fill l n philippin philippines. and it's unlikely if abu baghdadi, that isis is going to disappear. >> we will leave it there for now. it will bornlt to get your perspective in the coming hours. 50 days, front-row seat as they tried to hold on to their caliphate. all of those people that still believe in the brutal ideology. ben wedeman, we'll come back to you. please stay with cnn as we cover the breaking news. a military raid is believed to have killed the leader of isis. because getting older...

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suicide vest during the operation. officials, as you can imagine, are conducting dna testing to confirm it is al baghdadi. and in the coming hours is that donald trump will make an announcement. we are hearing that it will be policy-related. josh rogan joins me on the phone. the political implicatiomplicat at least surprised is the president. >> we can credit the u.s. special operations forces for a mission that was told by sources, was long planned and meticulously planned for several months. and if successful, marks the netting of a very high-value target. but it's impossible to ignore this comes in the midst of a

trump administration policy, in the middle of a drastic change, many would say for the worst. and president trump has faced criticism for the last few weeks, going back and forth, withdrawing troops from northeast syria. that's come with disdain and humiliation, especially operationers who have been working isis at that time. the justice that may have been brought to mr. baghdadi, it remains that isis is still on the rise in syria. still perpetrating attacks. 14,000 to 18,000 in the pentagon. another 70,000 family members, internally displaced from the camps. we have to ask the u.s. government, what is the plan for

dealing with the massive organization that baghdad leaves behind. >> interesting, josh, you are reporting this is long-planned. taking tree ining friendly fire lindsey graham, saying what are you doing? josh rogan from "the washington post" appreciate your reporting. you are watching cnn breaking news coverage, of what u.s. officials believe to be the killing of isis leader al baghdadi. i'm paula newton. don't go anywhere. we'll be right back with special coverage of our breaking news here, in a moment.

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kids vaping. that's a dangerous idea. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c. this is cnn breaking news. >> i'm paula newton at cnn center in atlanta, with stunning news from northwest syria. it's been breaking in the last few hours. abu bakr al baghdadi has been killed in a u.s. raid. al baghdadi apparently detonated a suicide vest, as u.s. special operation commandos closed in on his location. final confirmation is pending ena analysis and other positive