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Terrorism: ISIS Likely to Maintain Operational Tempo in 2020 Despite Losing Leader

ISIS terrorist operations in 2020 are likely to continue at a similar pace and with similar effectiveness despite the loss of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a 26 October US raid. The group probably will transition relatively smoothly to new leader Abdullah Qardash, who three months ago began running day-to-day ISIS operations to allow al-Baghdadi to focus on building religious fervor in the organization, according to an August statement from the ISIS press agency Amaq.