Hezbollah media unit: Islamic State leader reported in Syrian town

[Wiljor]

Hezbollah media unit: Islamic State leader reported in Syrian town

 

Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

•  
•  

 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Hezbollah-run media unit said on Friday Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported to have been in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal during the Syrian army and its allies’ operation to clear it. 

 

FILE PHOTO: A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi making what would have been his first public appearance, at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. REUTERS/Social Media Website via Reuters TV/File Photo

 

The military unit did not say what had happened to Baghdadi, give further details or identify its sources.

The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State said on Friday it had no “releasable information” on Baghdadi’s whereabouts.

 

Syria’s army declared victory over Islamic State on Thursday, saying its capture of the jihadists’ last town in the country marked the collapse of their three-year rule in the region. 

But the army and its allies are still fighting Islamic State in desert areas close to Albu Kamal near the border with Iraq, the Syrian army said on Thursday.

On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State has taken back control of half of Albu Kamal.

The capture of the border town had sealed “the fall of the terrorist Daesh organization’s project in the region”, an army statement said on Thursday, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. 

 

RELATED COVERAGE

•  
  U.S.-led coalition does not have 'releasable information' on IS leader Baghdadi whereabouts

An audio message purported to be from Baghdadi was released in September. Baghdadi declared himself caliph and heir to Islam’s historic leaders from the great medieval mosque in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014. 

(This version of the story was refiled to clarify source in headline) 

Reporting by Sarah Dadouch; Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry and Andrew Roche

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-baghdadi/hezbollah-media-unit-islamic-state-leader-reported-in-syrian-town-idUSKBN1DA0ZP

[Jaygo]

Would somebody blast this punk please?

[Scott McD]

How many times do we need to kill this bellend?

Him and Maliki need to meet their maker asap!

Guaranteed as soon as these two are out of the picture things will speed up again.

Go RV!!