ISIS leader believed dead in US raid; Russia questions official US account of the military raid

The raid followed a month-long intelligence operation that had tracked Baghdadi to the region through a smuggler who had moved the wives of two of his brothers from Iraq to Idlib, two officials told the Guardian.

Intelligence officials believe Baghdadi may have detonated a suicide belt as troops approached a house near the Turkish border in which he was hiding. The blast is thought to have also killed two of his wives.

U.S. President Donald Trump declared Sunday morning that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead after a US military raid in northwest Syria over the weekend.

“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,” Trump said at the White House, calling the ISIS leader's removal “the top national security priority of my administration”, according to CNN..

The President said a US special operations forces mission went after the ISIS leader and there were no US deaths during the operation.

Several ISIS fighters and companions of Baghdadi were reportedly killed, including two women wearing suicide vests and three children.    

Meanwhile, the Russian military on Sunday questioned the official US account of the military raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, saying it was not aware of any US military operations in the region.

In a statement, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military “does not have reliable information” on a US Special Operations raid in Syria’s Idlib province, adding: “The increasing number of direct participants and countries that allegedly took part in this ‘operation,’ each one giving completely contradictory details, raises legitimate questions and doubts about its existence and especially the level of its success.”

In a statement that followed the raid, President Trump thanked Russia for its assistance, as well as Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurds.

Konashenkov said that the Russian military had observed no strikes by US aircraft in the region.

“Firstly, on Saturday and in recent days no air strikes were made on the Idlib de-escalation zone by US aircraft or the so-called ‘international coalition’ were recorded,” Konashenkov said.  “Secondly, we are not aware of any alleged assistance to the passage of American aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation.”

Konashenkov argued in his statement that Syrian government backed by Russian air power had defeat ISIS, saying that al-Baghdadi’s death “has absolutely no operational significance on the situation in Syria or on the actions of the remaining terrorists in Idlib.”