Social Media Website via Reuters TV
A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi making what would have been his first public appearance, at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014.
US military spokespeople trolled ISIS savagely on Tuesday after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been confirmed dead.When asked to confirm whether or not the ISIS leader had died, a spokesperson told CBS News' Cami McCormick "We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed."
The latest wave of reports of Baghdadi's death come as ISIS' territory in Iraq and Syria shrinks and the group's remaining militants run out of places to hide.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government declared the city of Mosul, where ISIS declared it's "caliphate" or territory in 2014, as having been liberated.
The US has led a coalition of 67 nations in training and equipping ground forces to fight ISIS and providing air support for those troops since 2014, but according to all official estimates, ISIS' days controlling territory in Iraq and Syria are numbered.