International tensions as Isis teeters:

With Isis apparently on the brink of being routed from the capital of its self-declared caliphate, Raqqa, the complex international battle for control of its territory in eastern Syria has intensified. On Sunday, US forces shot down a Syrian military aircraft for the first time since the start of the civil war more than six years ago: the SU-22 jet had just bombed Us-backed forces fighting Isis outside Raqqa. In response, Syria’s ally Russia said it would now regard coalition aircraft as legitimate targets. On Tuesday, the US also shot down a pro-regime armed drone in southeastern Syria, saying it had been approaching a US outpost near al-tanf – where US advisers are training a local anti-isis militia – and displaying a “hostile intent”.

Separately, Russia’s military said that it believed its forces had killed the jihadists’ leader, Abu Bakr al-baghdadi (pictured), in a strike on the outskirts of Raqqa on 28 May. However, it said that it could not be 100% certain; and previous reports of his death have turned out to be false. Meanwhile, the US military announced that coalition forces had killed Isis’s top cleric, Turki al-binali.