If alive, Baghdadi has lost influence over his caliphate, says coalition
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The coalition is not able to confirm whether ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive or dead. If he is alive, however, he is not able to lead or direct the militants fighting for his caliphate.
“He has not been able to influence what is currently happening in Raqqa or Mosul or overall in ISIS as they continue to lose their physical caliphate,” spokesperson Col. Ryan Dillon told media on Friday.
A senior Russian parliamentarian said on Friday that the probability Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike in Syria is nearly 100 percent, according to Interfax news agency.
On Friday, the coalition announced the death of a top ISIS financial official, killed in an airstrike earlier this month.
“Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi, a Syrian native and an experienced terrorist financial facilitator, moved millions of dollars for the terror organization's attack and logistics network,” read a coalition statement.
He was killed on June 16 in an airstrike in Abu Kamal near the Syria-Iraq border in the Euphrates River valley southeast of Raqqa.
The coalition has struck several so-called high value targets in this valley area where ISIS is known to have resources, including financial ones, Dillon said. Though Raqqa is the focus in Syria, he said, “ISIS has no sanctuary wherever they hold ground.”
Rawi and his company, Hanifa Currency Exchange, in Abu Kamal were subject to US sanctions for supporting terrorism. The coalition stated that he had used his networks to “move money into and out of ISIS-controlled territory and across borders on behalf of the group.”
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have taken 45 square kilometres of territory in and around Raqqa in this the third week of the campaign to oust ISIS from the city, Dillon confirmed.
The Kurdish-led SDF are fighting ISIS on three axes in Raqqa. The campaign reported “intense clashes” in western neighbourhoods on Friday.
“He has not been able to influence what is currently happening in Raqqa or Mosul or overall in ISIS as they continue to lose their physical caliphate,” spokesperson Col. Ryan Dillon told media on Friday.
A senior Russian parliamentarian said on Friday that the probability Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike in Syria is nearly 100 percent, according to Interfax news agency.
On Friday, the coalition announced the death of a top ISIS financial official, killed in an airstrike earlier this month.
“Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi, a Syrian native and an experienced terrorist financial facilitator, moved millions of dollars for the terror organization's attack and logistics network,” read a coalition statement.
He was killed on June 16 in an airstrike in Abu Kamal near the Syria-Iraq border in the Euphrates River valley southeast of Raqqa.
The coalition has struck several so-called high value targets in this valley area where ISIS is known to have resources, including financial ones, Dillon said. Though Raqqa is the focus in Syria, he said, “ISIS has no sanctuary wherever they hold ground.”
Rawi and his company, Hanifa Currency Exchange, in Abu Kamal were subject to US sanctions for supporting terrorism. The coalition stated that he had used his networks to “move money into and out of ISIS-controlled territory and across borders on behalf of the group.”
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have taken 45 square kilometres of territory in and around Raqqa in this the third week of the campaign to oust ISIS from the city, Dillon confirmed.
The Kurdish-led SDF are fighting ISIS on three axes in Raqqa. The campaign reported “intense clashes” in western neighbourhoods on Friday.