The multi-million-pound search for the 26-year-old Briton may even dwarf the search for former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
The unmasking of bloodthirsty IS killer Jihadi John brought the world’s biggest-ever joint terrorist manhunt out into the open.
The multi-million-pound search for 26-year-old Briton Mohammed Emwazi may even dwarf the search for Osama bin Laden.
An enormous probe into Emwazi’s background has secretly been under way for months, involving international co-operation between British police and counter-terror spooks from MI5 and MI6 alongside US agents from the FBI and the CIA, as well as special forces.
Specialists at GCHQ and the American National Security Agency have monitored every phone call and social media communication by Emwazi’s family and friends.
Syrian and Iraqi agents recruited in refugee camps across Turkey by MI6, the CIA and the French DGSE intelligence agencies have flooded the region looking for clues.
And every target mobile phone call, suspicious email, tweet, Facebook posting pinged across the Middle East is being analysed.
But now his name is out there, a real on-the-ground hunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist foot-soldier is under way. This can only mean that all the clandestine bugging operations have been milked dry or they have produced very little usable intelligence.
Interrogations or interviews with his relatives and associates have also gone as far as they can.
US spooks are likely to have leaked the name to the Washington Post to stir up a global frenzy between jihadists that could pinpoint Emwazi’s whereabouts.
As soon as the name flashed up there was an avalanche of communications intelligence as fanatics passed on the news. British Sentinel spy planes in the region and American U2 surveillance craft will be hoovering up clandestine conversations, SIM card numbers and a wealth of other helpful details from the electronic ether.
GCHQ in Cheltenham and listening stations in Cyprus will also be plucking key snippets from the tidal wave of intelligence emanating from the news.
In pictures - Jihadi John's victims:
One ex-spy said: “This will have been the busiest and perhaps most crucial time. Banks of screens and monitors worldwide will have been stared at by hundreds of the world’s top intelligence analysts.
“The flood of information coming in will be like a dam has bust open and there will almost certainly be breakthrough of some sort because of the amount of chatter on the networks.
“Jihadi John being named will hopefully lift some of the mystique from this murderer’s image and force people to call each other and talk about it as a momentous event.
“Those conversations are vital to tracking down Emwazi. It’s always the terrorist’s downfall – a slip in communications. Someone will open their mouth and let slip where he may be and special forces will be on standby to go in.”
From Emwazi’s family home in West London to the secret desert compound where he may now be holed up, the hunt will intensify.
Hear the London accent of killer Mohammed Emwazi:
SAS, SBS and Special Reconnaissance Regiment specialists have trained for months to smash their way in to an Islamic State compound and kill Emwazi. Alongside the elite British troops are the American equivalents of our SAS, Delta Force, and the US Navy SEALs, whose Team Six assassinated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
When they go into action they will have twin priorities.
One is to rescue British journalist John Cantlie, who has been held by the group for more than two-and-a-half years since he was kidnapped along with US reporter James Foley.
The other is to kill the gloating Islamic State front man the world first saw when he beheaded Mr Foley on 19 August 2014. With huge swathes of Iraq and all of Syria no-go zones for westerners, any kind of mission into this territory is highly dangerous.
But Jihadi John’s fate was sealed from the moment he wielded his knife and spewed out hatred in his incongruous London accent. It is thought he went on to murder four more westerners, including Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.
A month later FBI director James Comey announced that his teams knew exactly who the Briton responsible was.
Emwazi’s identity was pinpointed by cross-referencing and comparing recordings of his voice with that of the masked man filmed in brutal “execution” videos.
Human intelligence from a large number of released western hostages has also helped identify the man known as Jihadi John.
The ex-spook told me yesterday: “If he is still alive he is living on borrowed time and I have no doubt that he will be killed before long.
“He will die either in a drone strike, a close-up encounter with special forces or on the receiving end of a sniper round fired at his head. But he will die... they always do. It only takes one tiny mistake by someone who knows him, one slight slip on the telephone or on the internet.
“His location will be revealed and in the next few weeks he is extremely vulnerable.
“We have seen it countless times in Northern Ireland and Iraq.
“Eventually someone always slips up in their communication and reveals a tiny piece of intelligence that leads to locating them.
“I am very confident that Emwazi is a dead man walking.”
Now that he has been named, it is likely that Emwazi will briefly enjoy even greater notoriety among his jihadist cohorts in Syria and Iraq.
But a £6million bounty on his head, approved by the US Senate, is no idle threat or empty gesture. It is a sign of America’s total commitment to avenging the murders of its citizens.
Bounty placed on Mohammed Emwazi's head
Gradually his position may be compromised.
A informant may be tempted by the huge reward being offered at a time when IS is being severely weakened by Kurdish and Iraqi attacks.
Until yesterday the killer’s identity remained shrouded in secrecy for good reasons. But now the mystique has been lifted he is of far less use to Islamic State.
And as we saw in the celebration of the assasination of Osama bin Laden, no matter how long it takes and no matter what the risk, America will take its revenge.