Son of Islamic State chief killed fighting Syrian forces

BEIRUT: The Islamic State group saidthesonofitsleaderhasbeen killed fighting Syrian government forces.

The announcement of the death of the young son of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared on thegroup’ssocialmediaaccounts late onTuesday. It includedapicture of a young boy carrying a rifle and identified him as Huthaifa al-Badri.

The statement, dated this month, said he was an elite fighter, known as an “inghimasi,” whowaskilledwhilefightingSyrianandRussiatroopsata powerstationinthecentralHoms province. It did not specify when he was killed.

The Syrian Observatory for HumanRights, awarmonitoring group, said the most recent IS operationsintheareawereinthe first two weeks of June.

Al-Baghdadi has been reported killed or wounded on a numberofoccasionsbutiswidely believed to be still alive. Little is knownaboutal-Baghdadi’sfamily, but a woman and a child who were said to be his wife and daughter were detainedinLebanon in 2014.

IShasbeendrivenfromnearly all theterritoryitoncecontrolled in Syria and Iraq, though it still maintains a presence in the Syriandesertandremoteareasalong theborder. TheObservatorysaid late Tuesday that one of the group’s last pockets in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zourcameunderintenseshelling from the US-led coalition. At least 12 militants are believed to have been killed in Hajin, the Observatory said.

The Observatory said at least 11 displaced Syrians fleeing the fighting in southwestern Syria werekilledwhentheysteppedon a land mine. The two-week long offensive has so far displaced up to330,000people, includingsome 60,000 at the sealed border with Jordan, the UN said. UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at least12children, twowomen, and one elderly man died near the Jordanian border.