The sheer number of false claims of having killed top ISIS commanders had US officials hedging yesterday with their assertion that they “likely” killed top ISIS commander Abu Omar al-Shishani in an airstrike in Shahdadi.
They were right to avoid claims of certainty, it seems, as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights today said their intelligence on the matter suggests Shishani was wounded in the US strike, but survived and is recovering in a Raqqa hospital.
Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, was described by US officials as “de facto minister of war” and ISIS’ “defense secretary,” though his actual role isn’t totally clear beyond his being a high-profile aide to ISIS Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
US officials had expressed hope that the Soviet-born Shishani’s death would mean a significant blow to ISIS’ recruiting ability in the Caucasus region, though whether this would”ve been the case even if he had been slain is unclear.
How about a little truth in reporting. Everytime you reference the Syrian Obs for HR, please add the phrase “a one-person organization located in Coventry England”. Then readers can have at least a chance of estimating what a guy in England really knows about what’s going on the other side of the world.
Some people claim that SOHR is “a one-person organization located in Coventry England.”
Other people claim that SOHR is an “information office” run by one person in Coventry, England with a network of more than 200 sources on the ground in Syria.
I’m certainly willing to be skeptical of the latter claim, but the former claim doesn’t magically become true just because you prefer to believe it.
Now there will be a justification for U.S. ground troops in the offensive to re take Raqqa.