Islamic State after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

AS ITS SO-CALLED caliphate expanded across Syria and Iraq, Islamic State (IS) promised its followers an apocalyptic battle to come. Eager jihadist propagandists predicted that a final victory over the “crusader armies” would usher in the day of judgment and give birth to a new world. The man who was to lead that battle, the self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, instead blew himself up in a tunnel in Syria on October 26th, murdering two of his own children as he died.

His suicide, to avoid capture by American forces, marks the end of an era for IS. The group once held sway over millions of Syrians and Iraqis in an area the size of Britain. It had already lost its territory, clawed back at staggering cost by a mix of American air power, Syrian militiamen and Iraqi troops. Now it has lost its leader as well.