US Defense Secretary believes IS leader is alive

On July 21, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said he believes IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive.

Russia released photos of the building (before and after the airstrike) believed to be where they killed al-Baghdadi in the airstrike in Raqqa - Photo: Facebook of the Russian Ministry of Defense

According to Reuters news agency, Russia previously announced that it had killed Al Baghdadi in a series of airstrikes in Raqqa city (Sirya) last month.

Earlier this month, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said it had “confirmed information” that Baghdadi had been killed.

However, Iraqi and Western officials remain skeptical about this information. Mr. Mattis said he had not seen any evidence that the IS leader had been killed after weeks of speculation about the incident.

“I think he’s still alive, and I’ll believe that only if we know we killed him. But we’re still hunting him… we believe he’s still alive,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.

“For obvious reasons, we are trying to keep a close eye on him because this guy has declared war on us and he has to face the consequences for that,” Mr. Mattis added.

Moscow said Al-Baghdadi was killed in a Russian airstrike while he was holding an emergency meeting with 30 of his commanders and 300 militants in the city of Raqqa.

According to TTO