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.
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Rukmini Callimachi, correspondent for The New York Times, calls Adnani the “chief propagandist” for ISIS.
“On August 30, 2016, the strike of a Russian bomber #Su34 carried out near the Maaratat-Um-Haush (#Aleppo province) has eliminated a large concentration of #ISIS militants (up to 40 people)”, the Russian Ministry of Defense wrote in a statement on Facebook.
If his death is confirmed, those skills will be hard to replace, even in a group as resilient as Islamic State, after a series of territorial losses and killings of top leaders.
Adnani, a Syrian born in 1977, was ISIS’ most recognised leaders, at the heart of a sophisticated propaganda, and recruitment machine that produced slick videos and sustained a huge social media presence. He was also reported to have been involved in organising high-profile ISIS attacks overseas that killed hundreds, including in Paris, Brussels and Istanbul.
His death, like al-Zarqawi’s in a 2006 US airstrike, will only empower al-Adnani’s “soldiers”, the militants said in announcing al-Adnani’s death.
However, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said on Tuesday that a US air strike targeted al-Adnani in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of the city of Aleppo, the provincial capital.
Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook said in a statement that Adnani’s death would represent “another significant blow to ISIL”.
The IS-run Aamaq news agency announced Tuesday that al-Adnani was “martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo”.
“That’s a joke”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operation.
The two countries also have pledged to target Islamic State militants in Syria, but the Pentagon has complained that Russian jets also are targeting anti-Assad rebels trained by the US military.
If a Russian attack did kill Adnani, it would be an unusual, targeted strike against a senior Islamic State official by Moscow, exhibiting Russia’s growing capabilities in Syria and bolstering the Kremlin’s information campaign that its intervention is legitimate.
Coming on the heels of the death of the group’s war minister, al-Adnani’s loss is likely to prompt a shake-up in the IS leadership and may force its shadowy leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to address the loss of its most charismatic figure.
“But again, we have no information at this time to support the claim that they also conducted a strike in this way”, he said, stressing a “rigorous process” was underway to review the strike.
“Adnani commanded widespread respect within the movement [ISIL]”, Shiraz Maher, Deputy Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, said.
“.I know what ISIL itself has said”.
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Adnani, from the western Syrian province of Idlib, joined the militant movement in Iraq where he served under the late local Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In June 2014, he was the first to declare a caliphate for parts of Syria and Iraq, indicating ISIS’ aim to become a governing entity and not just a terrorist group.
