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MOSCOW/BAGHDAD Moscow said on Friday its forces may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an air strike in Syria last month, but Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials were skeptical.

The secretive Islamic State leader has frequently been reported killed or wounded since he declared a caliphate to rule over all Muslims from a mosque in Mosul in 2014, after leading his fighters on a sweep through northern Iraq.

If the report does prove true, it would be one of the biggest blows yet to Islamic State, which is trying to defend its shrinking territory against an array of forces backed by regional and global powers in both Syria and Iraq.

But in the absence of independent confirmation, some U.S. officials said U.S. agencies were skeptical of the report. Several Iraqi security officials said Iraq was doubtful as well.

"His death has been reported so often that you have to be cautious till a formal Daesh statement comes," a European security official said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

U.S. Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said: "We have no information to corroborate those reports."

A senior Trump administration official noted a number of infirmities in the reports, which have given U.S. officials reason to question their accuracy.

Some of those infirmities suggested that this happened at the end of May and that there were upwards of 300 or more soldiers killed in that strike, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

A strike of that size and that claim that would have happened that long ago without any knowledge is something that made me curious, the official added.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on its Facebook page that it was checking information that Baghdadi was killed in the strike on the outskirts of Raqqa in Syria, launched after Russia received intelligence about a meeting of Islamic State leaders.

"On May 28, after drones were used to confirm the information on the place and time of the meeting of IS leaders, between 00:35 and 00:45, Russian air forces launched a strike on the command point where the leaders were located," the statement said.

"According to the information which is now being checked via various channels, also present at the meeting was Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated as a result of the strike," the ministry said.

OPERATING CAUTIOUSLY

However, a colonel with the Iraqi national security service told Reuters Baghdadi was not believed to have been in Raqqa at the time of the strike in late May. One of Baghdadi's aides may have been killed rather than Baghdadi himself, the colonel said.

He said that Baghdadi was believed to be operating cautiously in the border area between Iraq and Syria with just a handful of close aides, and avoiding using telecommunications equipment to evade surveillance.

Another Iraqi intelligence official said the Russians had not shared any information with Iraqi authorities to indicate Baghdadi was killed. Iraq was checking the report and would announce his death if it received "solid confirmation".

Hoshiyar Zebari, a long-serving former Iraqi foreign minister and now a senior adviser to the government of the Kurdish autonomous region, also told Reuters there was no confirmation of Baghdadi's death.

The Russian defense ministry statement said the strike was believed to have killed several other senior leaders of the group in addition to Baghdadi, as well as around 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their personal guards.

The IS leaders had gathered at the command center, in a southern suburb of Raqqa, to discuss possible routes for the militants' retreat from the city, the statement said.

The United States was informed in advance about the place and time of the strike, the Russian military said.

CLOSE TO DEFEAT

Islamic State fighters are close to defeat in the twin capitals of the group's territory, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, after nearly three years ruling over millions of people in a wide swathe of territory in both countries.

Russia supports the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is fighting against Islamic State fighters, one front in a multi-sided civil war. The United States supports Kurdish and Arab fighters in Syria who are separately planning an assault on Raqqa.

In Iraq, the U.S.-backed government has been battling to recapture Mosul since October last year after driving the group out of most of the rest of the territory it had seized.

The last public video footage of Baghdadi shows him dressed in black clerical robes declaring his caliphate from the pulpit of Mosul's medieval Grand al-Nuri mosque back in 2014.

Born Ibrahim al-Samarrai, Baghdadi is an Iraqi in his mid-forties, who broke away from al Qaeda in 2013 after years participating in the insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq and the Iraqi government. The U.S. State Department has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

A number of senior IS figures have been killed in air strikes or special forces raids since the United States launched its campaign against the group in 2014, including Baghdadi's deputy Abu Ali al-Anbari, the group's "minister of war" Abu Omar al-Shishani, and its media director Abu Muhammad al-Furqan.

Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cast doubt on the report Baghdadi may have been killed. He said that according to his information, Baghdadi was located in another part of Syria at the end of May.

The information is that as of the end of last month Baghdadi was in Deir al-Zor, in the area between Deir al-Zor and Iraq, in Syrian territory, he said by phone.

(Additional reporting by Polina Devitt in Moscow, Tom Perry in Beirut, and Steve Holland aboard Air Force One; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov, Christian Lowe and Peter Graff; Editing by Peter Millership and James Dalgleish)

MIAMI President Donald Trump on Friday ordered tighter restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba and a clampdown on U.S. business dealings with the Caribbean islands military, saying he was canceling former President Barack Obama's "terrible and misguided deal" with Havana.

BRUSSELS EU officials see the start of Brexit talks on Monday as a sign Theresa May is accepting their format for negotiations but they expect no quick deals and are wary the prime minister may try to break with Brussels protocol.

The rest is here:
Russia's military says it may have killed IS leader; West, Iraq skeptical - Reuters

TAMPA, Fla. - A Spring Hill soldier and a dog he adopted in Iraq have been reunited.

NickPierzchalski was a black hawk pilot on a small base where stray dogs would sometimes wander.He and his fellow soldiers took care and adopted the young female stray, naming her Airys.

"She was a part of a pack of dogs, and she came running up to us after a crew came off the flight line,"Pierzchalski said.

That was late last year. He estimates she was only a few months old. The soldiers fed her some Vienna sausages and gave her a bath. She then decided to abandon her pack and stay with the soldiers. They built her a kennel and ordered dog food off of Amazon.

"I didn't do any leash training with her over there. But she would stay with us," he said.

Nick says the Airys quickly became a source of joy for the soldiers. A bright spot in the shadow of war.

"We all had pets at home. Just to bring a little slice of home to us over there, it was the world to us." he explained.

While overseas, Nick began researching methods of getting Airys back to the US. He filled out an 8 page application through SPCA International, who took care of the rest. While Nick came home in March, SPCAI had handlers care for the dog, they got her up to date on vaccinations and observed her for the past two months in Iraq. She was then flown to JFK International Airport then to Tampa. She arrived late last night. SPCAI paid for everything.

"I didn't think it was going to happen," Nick said. "She's part of the family now."

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Soldier reunited with dog he adopted in Iraq - ABC Action News

MERRIMAC Merrimac Public Library will host University of New Hampshire English professor Nathan Webster for a program called To Iraq and Back at 7 p.m. on June 22.

As a freelance photojournalist and U.S. Army noncommissioned officer during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Websters reporting on Iraq appeared in dozens of newspapers nationwide.

As a UNH graduate student, he was embedded alongside U.S. soldiers of the 82nd Airborne and 25th Infantry in Iraq several times spanning the summer of 2007, with its last-ditch surge strategy, to 2008 (reconciliation with former Iraqi tribal foes), and the 2009 slow march to the finish line as soldiers handed the mission over to Iraqi government forces.

Webster will share the photos and stories from his book, Cant Give This War Away: Three Iraqi Summers of Change and Conflict, which documents the time he spent with soldiers overseas, some of the missions they experienced, and perspectives they attained.

Webster says of his freelance work, When soldiers return from overseas, they take off their uniform and blend back into society; maybe it will be hard to remember what these men and women looked like when they were young and at war in a place very far from home.

I hope these photographs and stories help an audience appreciate and understand what it looked and felt like during these three summers in Iraq where the temperature rarely dipped below 125 degrees and a stubborn enemy rarely stood and fought.

Anyone interested can stop by the library at 86 W. Main St. or call978-346-9441 to register for this program.

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'To Iraq and Back' at Merrimac library - The Daily News of Newburyport

TAMPA (FOX 13) - For nearly a year, Nick Pierzchalski flew Blackhawk helicopters in war-torn Iraq. It was his job to airlift wounded soldiers to safety. But of all those lives saved, there's one that touched his heart in a very different way.

This dog ran up to me, ran up to our group, and befriended us immediately, the Florida Army National Guard pilot recalled of his pup, Airys.

Pierzchalski built her a kennel in the hangar, which must have felt like a resort to the once-feral desert dog.

It brought great morale to me and the whole group felt like a piece of home, he continued. She'd hang out with us. She was constantly with us.

Now back home, Pierzchalski hadn't seen Airys since March. But that changed late Thursday night, thanks to the help of SPCA International and Operation Baghdad Pups.

The pair came face to face on the tarmac at Tampa International Airport. When Airys was released from her travel crate, she buried her face in Pierzchalskis big hug.

Youre a lot bigger, Pierzchalski exclaimed as the excited dog wagged her tail.

I cant even put it on words, I really cant. I didnt think I was going to get her home, Pierzchalski continued, interrupted by kisses from his pup. She remembers! I was nervous she wasnt going to remember but she obviously does.

The Brooksville resident said he can't wait to see Airys explore, see grass, and chase squirrels. Their new home together is about as far away from a war zone as she can get.

VIDEO: Watch Joshs report to enjoy the emotional reunion

Link:
Florida soldier reunited with pup from Iraq - FOX 13 News, Tampa Bay

Starting my law office in Iraq was in some ways very similar to how I started my law practice in Towson. In both places, I need the basics: a work space; a private place to meet confidentially with clients; a computer with internet access; a printer; a phone; and a client base.

When I deployed, I arrived in Kuwait, where I took over the established office of the attorney I was replacing. (The Army unit that I support also has troops throughout Iraq, but we did not have an established law office in Iraq at the time.)

Shortly after arriving in Kuwait, however, I was taskedwith travelingto Iraq to assist with a number of investigations into potential soldier misconduct. When I arrived, I had no dedicated office space that I could use, so I networked and made connections that helped me work throughout the military complex using various workstations.

Word spread throughout the military complex that a military attorney was present, and I quickly realized that I was the only judge advocate on the complex. Soon, I had a number of personnel seeking and reaching out to me for various legal assistance from notary services to power of attorney to general legal advice. It did not take long to realize there was a need for legal services at the military complex in Iraq.

I was originally only supposed to stay in Iraq no longer than 10 daysto assist with the investigation, but when people found outI was leaving to go back to Kuwait, I was asked to stay to provide legal assistance for the military complex. I was quickly provided a dedicated office, a computer with internet, a conference room to meet with clients, a phone and printer access.

I have since posted walk-in hours, created flyers, and have an information slide on the local television network. There has been an uptick in client services since the law office opened a few weeks ago. What started out as a short trip to Iraq has turned into an indefinite stay and established law office here.

Since establishing the practice, I have traveled to other more remote locations throughout Iraq to provide legal services to personnel in areas without a judge advocate. The legal office in Kuwait is being run by my judge advocate colleague who handles the majority of work in Kuwait, while I handle the majority of work in Iraq.

I wonder if being the judge advocate for the military complex is similar to being the only lawyer in a small town and surrounding areas. I wouldnt know, as I planted and established myself as one of thousands of lawyers throughout the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

But what remains the same is that a need for legal services, both in Towson and Iraq, led to the establishment of a law office.

Excerpt from:
How I started my law office in Iraq - Maryland Daily Record (subscription)