Still no proof ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, says US security chief
14 July 2017News Agencies
The US defence chief says the Pentagon is still not convinced Islamic State
group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, following recent reports about the
militant's demise.
Yet Jim Mattis did not go as fair as denying the report made by the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights that Baghdadi, following an explosive claim about
his death by the monitoring group earlier this week.
"If we knew, we would tell you - right now, I can't confirm or deny it,"
Mattis said.
"Our approach is we assume he's alive until it's proven otherwise, and right
now I can't prove it otherwise."
The US has doubled its efforts to find Baghdadi, with drones and aircraft
scanning the sparsely populated desert region between Syria and Iraq.
"We'll go after him until he's gone," Mattis said.
New efforts to locate Baghdadi follow the collapse of the IS' self-declared
caliphate with the group's two main urban centres falling, or appearing about
to.
Iraqi forces managed are finishing off the last pockets of resistance in Mosul,
including areas around the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri from where Baghdadi made
his only public appearance in 2014.
Kurdish-led forces are also pushing deeper into IS' self-declared "capital"
Raqqa, which could have been touted as another possible location of Baghdadi
during the heydays of the group.
The US believe that the IS chief is most likely hiding out in the desert
region between the Syria or Iraq borders following its collapse in Raqqa and
Mosul.
There have been numerous reports about Baghdadi's alleged demise, including
one in June by Russia but offered no proof to back their claim.
The Syrian Observatory's stroy was scant on facts - with no information about
how or when he died - but the monitor insisted it received the information
from "trusted sources".
But with a huge aerial assault on IS territories by the US-led coalition, many
media outlets believe there is more substance to this claim.
The US have put a $25 million bounty on Baghdadi's head and the elusive jihadi
is thought to be paranoid of informers within his ranks.
This has seen him constantly on the move, intelligence chiefs believe,
avoiding any electronic communication and instead relaying messages to
commanders and officials via trusted couriers.
US military 'doubles efforts' in search for IS chief as the caliphate falls in
Mosul
The US military has reportedly "doubled efforts" in the search for the leader
of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the extremists were pushed
out an iconic mosque in Mosul.
An Iraqi general told Arab news agencies on Friday said that at least 40
drones are surveying the desert region between Iraq and Syria for signs of
Baghdadi and other top IS leaders.
Baghdadi's fate and whereabouts remain unknown since he appeared at Friday
prayers at the Grand al-Nuri mosque in 2014, soon after IS seized Iraq's
second city and called on all Muslims to obey him.
"Some of the drones are equipped with radar homing missiles, indicating that
capturing Baghdadi is not important and that the main objective is getting rid
of him by any means possible," the official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said.
"Tracking Baghdadi has purely been a US mission because of its capabilities
and intelligence on his movements in comparison to Iraqis."
He added that it was possible that the extremist group has taken advantage of
a dispute over the division of Syrian airspace between the US and Russia to
flee to remote areas not under Washington's surveillance.
Earlier this month, Moscow said it had killed the IS chief along and up to 330
other fighters, although the vast majority of analysts have cast doubt on the
claim.
There have been numerous false reports of Baghdadi's death since he declared
the caliphate from the pulpit of Mosul's al-Nuri mosque back in 2014.
In March, senior US and Iraqi officials said Baghdadi had fled the Iraqi city
of Mosul and was hiding out in the desert near the Syrian border.
An Iraqi military source at the time told Arab news agencies that the IS chief
had been hiding out in one of four towns along the border region between Iraq
and Syria, where his supporters are plenty and the potential for informers
fewer.
The source said that Baghdadi was possibly hiding out in the western Iraqi
towns of al-Baaj or al-Qaim with the other possibilities being the Syrian city
of Deir al-Zour and town of al-Bukamal.
On Thursday, the Iraqi army recaptured Mosul's iconic Grand al-Nuri mosque,
officially declaring an end to IS in Iraq.
The Battle for Mosul began over eight months ago and the jihadis have been
making a last stand in the historic Old City.
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