Iraq intelligence agents tracked ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for years before getting the break they say was critical to cornering him.
That break was the arrest in May of one of al-Baghdadi’s brothers-in-law, Mohammed Ali Sajet al-Zubaaei, who joined ISIS in 2015 and had become one of the leader’s trusted guides.
It was a culmination of Iraq’s tactic of following al-Baghdadi by looking for those closest to him, said Lt. Gen. Saad al Allaq, the head of Iraq’s military intelligence directorate.