BEIRUT – Hudhayfah al-Badri, son of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakral-Baghdadi, was killed during an attack by the jihadists in the centralSyrian province of Homs, the IS propaganda agency Amaq announced Tuesday.
Al-Badri was killed in an “operation against the Nussayriyyah and theRussians at the thermal power station in Homs,” the group said in astatement alongside a photo of a young man holding an assault rifle.
Nussayriyyah is the term used by IS for the Alawite religious minority sectof President Bashar al-Assad.
IS declared a cross-border “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq in 2014, seizing athird of Iraq during a sweeping offensive.
The jihadists have since lost much ground to separate counter-offensives bySyrian and Iraqi forces as well as US-led operations, and the jihadistpresence is now confined to a few holdouts.
The Islamic State group is estimated to control no more than three percentof Syria s territory.
Last December the Iraqi government declared victory over IS but themilitary has continued regular operations targeting mostly desert areasalong the porous Syrian border.
The group s leader Baghdadi, who has been pronounced dead on severaloccasions, remains alive in Syrian territory by the Iraqi border, an Iraqiintelligence official said in May. Baghdadi was said to move around withonly a small group of followers
Originally from Iraq, Baghdadi has been dubbed the “most wanted man on theplanet” and the United States is offering a $25 million reward for hiscapture.
The Iraqi official said the noose was closing around the jihadist leaderafter Iraqi forces captured five top IS commanders in an unprecedented raidin Syria on March 24.
Last September, in the last voice message attributed to Baghdadi, the ISleader called on his fighters in Syria and Iraq to “resist” their enemies.
He had four children with his first wife and a son with his second wife. -APP/AFP