DISINFO: Instead of killing Al Baghdadi, the US may have evacuated him
SUMMARY
The claim that the US killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi could be fake, distributed with the intent to solve problems of US domestic and foreign policies. The timing is suspicious, when the Trump Administration is losing its position in Syria, abandoning Kurdish allies and surrendering to Russia. Russian experts quoted by the Russian agency RiaFan call this operation a carefully planned forgery. The helicopters allegedly involved in the operation couldn’t have arrived unnoticed and terrorists in the area have modern anti-aircraft missiles. It couldn’t have been a stealth operation, so it was obviously staged, which may have included an agreement with the terrorists. The claim that Al Baghdadi waited his captors to kill himself with a suicide vest is ridiculous, when he could have easily escaped from there. By destroying the house, US troops where simply trying to erase all evidence of the staging, when they could have destroyed it beforehand to kill Al Baghdadi. The US hasn’t presented any video footage to prove the claim. Besides, it doesn’t make sense that they killed Al Baghdadi when he was one of the tools to create ISIS under CIA supervision. Most likely, he was evacuated by the US given the Turkish offensive in northern Syria and the advances of the Syrian army.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory perpetuating a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that the US has created and is supporting terrorist organisations. Details of the operation to eliminate Al Baghdadi have been confirmed by the Pentagon, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi intelligence. Parts of the footage filmed by US troops involved on it will be released “in coming days”, according to US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and president Donald Trump. The claim that ISIS was created by the CIA is a recurrent Russian narrative which has already been debunked often. In reality, the United States is committed to degrade and destroy this terrorist organisation. You can see other examples of disinformation on alleged US and Western backing for jihadist groups here, here, here and here.