The Department of Defense has released five videos from the raid that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The first video (below) shows numerous forces closing in on the compound from various directions.
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), released the four video clips during a press conference regarding the Baghdadi raid.
A second video (below) shows U.S. airstrikes against ISIS fighters who opened fighter on U.S. forces.
A third video (below) shows the final U.S. strikes on the Baghdadi compound that left it completely destroyed, preventing other ISIS terrorists from enshrining the location.
A fourth video (below) shows the compound burning after the strikes.
A fifth video (below) from more distant perspective also shows the airstrike on the compound.
McKenzie said that U.S. forces collected Baghdadi’s remains after the blast and conducted DNA tests to confirm his identity, a process also announced by Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
DNA had been previously collected from Baghdadi himself during his 10-month imprisonment in a U.S.-run prison camp in Iraq in 2004.
Trump had said on Monday that he was considering authorizing the release of the footage.
“We’re thinking about it. We may,” Trump said before he departed Joint Base Andrews on Monday
“The question was, am I considering releasing video footage of the raid. And we may take certain parts of it and release it, yes,” he added.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he watched footage of the raid, along with other key members of his administration.
“I got to watch it, along with General Milley, Vice President Pence, others, in the Situation Room. And we watched it so clearly,” he said on Sunday.
“I don’t want to say how, but we had absolutely perfect — as though you were watching a movie. It was — that — the technology there alone is really great,” he added.
However, some officials have reportedly disputed the president’s account.
Military and intelligence officials anonymously told The New York Times that the president did not have footage of soldiers in the tunnel facing down Baghdadi. Instead, they say he had several views of Baghdadi’s compound and the surrounding area provided by drones and other sources, including videos with heat signatures, such as the ones released on Wednesday.
