Timeline of the Islamic State (2019)

This article is about IS-related events in 2019. For other time periods, see List of terrorist incidents linked to the Islamic State.

Timeline

January 2019

• On January 27, two bombs exploded at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu, in the Philippines. Twenty people were killed and 102 others injured. The 2019 Jolo Cathedral bombings were done by Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), ^[1] with IS officially calling the group as the Islamic State – East Asia Province.

March 2019

• In March 2019, the Islamic State were declared "defeated" in Iraq and Syria by their opponents. ^{[2] [3] [4]}
• 15 March 2019 – An Australian terrorist killed 51 people in the Christchurch shooting, inspired by the antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory and the death of an 11-year-old girl in an ISIS attack. The Christchurch attack featured in Islamic State propaganda with Abu Hassan al-Muhajir calling for attacks on the “nations of the Cross and the apostate” in retaliation for the attack. ^[5]

October 2019

• On October 9, the United States took custody of two high-profile British members of IS previously held in Syria by Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces. US media reports identified the two as El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey. The two were members of the 4-member execution squad dubbed "The Beatles" by the Western media. They are part of an extremely violent four-man cell that kidnapped and tortured foreigners, including journalists, at the height of IS's power in Syria and Iraq. A third member of the group named Mohammed Emwazi, the notorious Jihadi John was killed in a drone attack on 12 November 2015 and the fourth, Aine Lesley Davis is in prison in Turkey. ^{[6] [7]}
• On October 10, Indonesia's security minister Wiranto was injured after a stabbing attack perpetrated by Syahril Alamsyah, also known as Abu Rara, and his wife Fitri Andriana, both members of the banned Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an IS-linked Indonesian terror group. ^[8] The same group carried out a series of attacks in Jakarta's business district known as the 2016 Jakarta attacks as well as bombings of churches known as the Surabaya bombings in 2018.
• On October 27, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi-born leader and self-declared Caliph of the Islamic State (IS), killed himself by detonating a suicide vest during the Barisha raid, conducted by the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment and the U.S. Delta Force, in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province. ^[9] The commander of the United States Central Command, General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., stated that al-Baghdadi also killed two children when he exploded his vest and was buried at sea after being offered Islamic funeral rites. ^[10] On 31 October 2019, IS confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead,
• On October 31, less than a week after the Barisha raid leading to the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was elected by a shura council as the new caliph of IS, ^[11] indicating that the group still considers itself a caliphate despite having lost all of its territory in Iraq and Syria, Al-Hashimi's appointment was supposedly done in accordance with the advice of al-Baghdadi, meaning the new emir was named as a successor by Baghdadi himself. ^[12]

November 2019

• On November 4, Turkish authorities said they had captured a sister of the dead IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Rasmiya Awad, in the northern Syrian town of Azaz. ^[13] The authorities hope Awad may provide a trove of intelligence. ^[14]
• On November 6, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had captured a wife of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, more than a week after Baghdadi killed himself during a raid by US special forces. Al-Baghdadi was known to have four wives, the maximum number one can have under Islamic law at one time. ^[15]

December 2019

• On 7 December, IS claimed the killing of Captain Mohammed Saleh Al Radfani in Aden, Yemen. ^[16] He died from a gun wound and was a paramilitary security commander from the Security Belt Forces. ^[17]

References

1. Francis Wakefield (29 January 2019). "AFP releases names of casualties of Jolo blast". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
2. "Here's why IS made headlines after being linked to Bondi attack". ABC News . 19 December 2025. Archived from the original on 2 January 2026.
3. Evans, Jake (3 October 2025). "Women and children stranded in Syria return to Australia after smuggling themselves from country". ABC News. Archived from the original on 3 October 2025. The women and their children who lived under Islamic State rule have been held against their will in the al-Hol and al-Roj camps since the terror group's defeat in 2019.
4. "Wong will not say if further Islamic State family members on track to return". www.abc.net.au. ABC News. 4 December 2025. A group of two women and four children returned to Australia in late September, six years after the terror organisation's defeat, but the government has consistently maintained that it was not involved in their removal from Syria.
5. "Livestream Terror in the Viral Video Age". Archived from the original on 29 December 2025. Islamic State spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir (kunya) emerged after nearly six months of silence to argue that Christchurch was "enough to wake the sleep" and to incite supporters against the "nations of the Cross and the apostate". He also likened the attacks to the battle raging in Baghuz, the last village then under Islamic State control in Syria.
6. "US takes custody of two high-profile ISIL fighters". Al Jazeera News. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
7. "U.S. takes custody of high-value ISIL prisoners in Syria, including members of beheading cell known as 'the Beatles'". National Post from the Washington Bureau of the Washington Post. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
8. "ISIL-linked Jamaah Anshurat Daulah blamed for attack on Wiranto". Al Jazeera News. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
9. "Statement from the President on the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi". whitehouse.gov (Press release). 27 October 2019 – via National Archives.
10. Gonzales, Richard (30 October 2019). "Head Of U.S. Central Command Says ISIS Leader Baghdadi Buried At Sea". NPR.org. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
11. "Islamic State names new leader, confirms death of Baghdadi in US raid". ABC News. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
12. "Islamic State confirms Baghdadi's death, names new 'Emir of the Faithful' | FDD's Long War Journal". longwarjournal.org. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
13. "Turkey captures sister of dead IS leader in Syria: Turkish officials". Reuters. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
14. Carlotta Gall (4 November 2019). "Turkey Captures Sister of Islamic State Chief Killed in Raid". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
15. "President Erdogan says Turkey captured al-Baghdadi's wife". Al Jazeera News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
16. "ISIS claims killing of security commander in Yemen". Adenpress. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
17. Mahmood, Ali (8 December 2019). "ISIS claims killing of security commander in Yemen". Thenational.ae . Retrieved 8 December 2019.