Quote:“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to US aircraft using the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” Major-General Igor Konashenkov told state-run RIA news agency.

Konashenkov referred to the previous claims that Al-Baghdadi had been killed. He described the latest raid as “yet another ‘elimination’ of the former Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the Turkish-controlled part of the Idlib de-escalation zone.”

Despite Trump claiming that the head of Daesh had met his end “crying and screaming”, Moscow said that there was no credible evidence to prove that such a raid took place, especially as there hasn’t been any US or international coalition air strikes in Idlib province recently, where the raid is said to have taken place.

Quote:The statement from the Russian Ministry of Defence also cast doubt on the claim that Al-Baghdadi was actually in Idlib. The town is held by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda branch in Syria which was a fierce rival of Al-Baghdadi’s Daesh.

Russia believes that the announcements by Trump are simply propaganda. “Trump has elections coming up next year,” explained Russian state TV correspondent in the US Denis Davydov to Rossiya-24. “This announcement about Al-Baghdadi’s liquidation will add some points for the [US] Commander-in-Chief.”