Moscow’s claim that Russian air strikes in Syria had killed prominent Daesh leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani is false, USA defense officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
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According to the ministry’s statement, Adnani was among approximately 40 ISIS members killed on Tuesday by air strikes carried out by a Russian Su-34 bomber in Maaratat-Umm Khaush in Aleppo province. “From the start, Russian Federation has spent most of its time in its military campaign propping up the [Bashar] Assad regime”.
The US has no information that supports Russia’s claim that it killed senior ISIS leader and spokesman Mohammad al-Adnani, the Pentagon has said.
The Islamic State-run Aamaq news agency confirmed the death of Abu Muhammed al-Adnani, who it said was “martyred while surveying operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo”.
The Pentagon said today there is “no information to support Russia’s claim that they also carried out a strike” that killed ISIS’ spokesman and Syria commander Abu Muhammad al-Adnani.
The Pentagon said on August 30 that al-Adnani was liquidated by an airstrike of the US-led worldwide coalition in the area of Al Bab.
Should Adnani’s death be confirmed, it “would mark another significant blow to ISIL”, he added in a statement.
He was at the heart of a sophisticated propaganda and recruitment machine that produced slick videos and sustained a major social media presence.
He said it was clear that United States intelligence had infiltrated the top levels of ISIS and was increasingly aware of the movements of senior figures.
This appeared to contradict the USA statement, which said that Adnani was targeted by coalition forces conducting a “precision strike near Al Bab, Syria”, 16 miles from where the Russians said they had killed him.
The coalition had been actively looking for Adnani for some time, he said.
“That’s a joke”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operation.
But analysts believe that in this instance al-Adnani’s high profile and standing among the group meant the ISIS leadership had to be seen to be first to claim the death. A USA counter terrorism official said that if al-Adnani is indeed dead, it would hurt the Islamic State “in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base … and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere”.
Adnani “served as principal architect of ISIL’s external operations and as ISIL’s chief spokesman”, Cook said.
Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib who pledged allegiance to Daesh’s predecessor al-Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by US forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution.
He was a founding member of ISIL, which evolved from Al Qaeda in Iraq to become the pre-eminent global extremist movement.
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Adnani was widely considered to be the militant group’s second in command and the likely successor to current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Adnani was reportedly the most vocal ISIS leader and called for “lone wolf” attacks against Western targets.
