Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Killed by Russian Airstrike, Moscow says

The Russian military said on Friday that it had killed the leader of the so-called Islamic State in an airstrike last month, the Associated Press reported.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid on May 28 that targeted an ISIS meeting held on the southern outskirts of Raqqa, according to a statement released by Russia’s defense ministry.

The airstrike also killed 30 more mid-level militant leaders and 300 other fighters, who had reportedly gathered to discuss the group’s withdrawal from Raqqa.

The ISIS-run Aamaq news agency did not confirm the death of the militant leader.

A spokesman for the United States-led anti-ISIS coalition said on Friday he could not confirm the Russian claim.

This is not the first time al-Baghdadi has been reported killed. Last week, Syrian state TV also claimed he had died in an airstrike on Raqqa. There have been other previous reports of al-Baghdadi being killed but they turned out to be false.

The ISIS leader last released an audio on Nov. 3, urging his followers to keep up the fight for Mosul as they defended the city against a major offensive that began weeks earlier.

Pro-government Forces Inch Closer to Tabqa Airbase

Syrian troops and allied militias advanced within miles of a strategic airbase controlled by U.S.-backed forces west of Raqqa city on Thursday, the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Pro-government forces moved to roughly 9 miles (14 km) from the Tabqa military airport, which is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling the so-called Islamic State.

The latest push came after pro-government forces captured an oilfield and a pumping station on the Ithriya-Tabqa highway, which ISIS had used to attack positions along the government’s main supply route to Aleppo.

U.S. special forces advising the SDF in the fight against ISIS are also believed to be stationed at the Tabqa base, which was captured from ISIS militants in March.

Syrian government forces and affiliated paramilitary groups first reached the provincial borders of Raqqa last week. The government’s advance coincides with the fresh push by the SDF toward Raqqa’s provincial capital.

Russia Concerned Over U.S. Missile Deployment

The Russian defense ministry has expressed concern over the deployment of a long-range artillery system to a U.S. base in southern Syria, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday.

The U.S. deployed its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a truck-mounted system that can fire missiles as far as 185 miles (300km), to a training base in the southern Syrian town of Tanf for the first time this week.

The area, which has seen recurrent coalition strikes against pro-government forces over the past few weeks, has emerged as the latest battleground between U.S.-backed forces and Iranian-sponsored supporters of the Syrian government.

The Russian defense ministry said on Thursday that the HIMARS launchers would be used against pro-government forces in Syria.

“Forces of the U.S.-led anti-I.S. coalition have repeatedly issued strikes on Syrian government forces fighting I.S. near the Jordanian border.”

“It’s not hard to guess that similar strikes will be continued against contingents of the Syrian army in the future using HIMARS,” the statement said.

Recommended Reads:

• Reuters: Spirits High Among Kurds in Syria as Coalition Battles for Raqqa
• The New York Times: Where a Flood of Syrians Are Remaking Turkey
• The Associated Press: Messy Fight Awaits ISIS’ Next Syrian Capital at Mayadeen
• The Christian Science Monitor: What Turkey’s Crackdown on NGOs Means for Syrian War Relief
• CNBC: Why Trump Attacks Iran for Supporting Syrian Strongman Assad – but Ignores Russia Doing It