Reports claim the leader of ISIS has been killed

gregjrichards said:

"The leader of Islamic State has been killed in an air strike in Syria, it has been reported by Syrian state media.

Reports from Syria suggest the leader of ISIS Abu Bkr al-Baghdadi was killed in an air strike on Saturday."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-leader-killed-strike-syria-10602577

Excellent news!

Click to expand...

According to reports on Syrian TV, the ******* has been wiped out in an airstrike on their stronghold in Raqqa on Saturday.

This has not yet been verified by any military sources, but would be a massive victory for the war on terror.

Click to expand...

Be aware, though, that the reports of the ISIS leader’s demise are coming from the Syrian government.

Bashar Al Assad’s government would benefit from reports of Al-Baghdadi’s death – even if they were not true – as the regime insists it’s trying to crack down on ISIS militants as part of its crushing of the rebel insurgency.

Another big caution: There have been reports about Al-Baghdadi’s demise before. They weren’t true. He’s a cat with nine lives. However, there were also reports that Al-Baghdadi was an increasingly isolated figure as the Coalition forces picked off his upper echelon one-by-one. Time will tell in relation to the June 10 reports.

American media and the U.S. government had yet to confirm them.

Click to expand...

Syrian state television has claimed the world's most wanted terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an airstrike, according to several reports.

It's not, however, the first time the leader of ISIS has been reported dead - the latest claims have been met with skepticism by many experts and could well turn out to be untrue.

It would certainly be in the interests of the Assad regime to claim that the world's most wanted terrorist had been killed to provide it with a short -term propaganda victory.

Click to expand...

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 13 civilians have been killed in coalition air raids in Raqqa over the past 24 hours.

Click to expand...

On the third anniversary of Baghdadi's first - and last public - public appearance, IS no longer controls most of the land it once held. Its leader has been conspicuously silent since addressing followers in a recorded audio message last November, after the battle to dislodge the group from Mosul began.

Amid this silence, unconfirmed reports of Baghdadi's death have recently surfaced. Russia's deputy foreign minister said it was "highly likely" Baghdadi was killed in a Russian air force strike on Raqqa on 28 May, and an Iranian official asserted last week that he was "definitely dead". However, both claims were questioned by American officials.

Click to expand...

Baghdadi, unlike other jihadist leaders, tends to speak or appear only when there is an extreme need for it - as seen with the announcement of the caliphate and the appeal to followers to stand and fight in Mosul.

Click to expand...

Exclusive: Islamic State leader Baghdadi almost certainly alive - Kurdish security official

July 17, 2017 / 4:52 PM

A top Kurdish counter-terrorism official said on Monday he was 99 percent sure that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive and located south of the Syrian city of Raqqa, after reports that he had been killed.

"Baghdadi is definitely alive. He is not dead. We have information that he is alive. We believe 99 percent he is alive," Lahur Talabany told Reuters in an interview.


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-baghdadi-idUSKBN1A20JD

Click to expand...