BALADI NEWS
The US military has conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), US news magazine Newsweek reports.
President Donald Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place, the magazine says.
Amid reports Saturday of U.S. military helicopters over Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of the top-secret operation in the last bastion of the country's Islamist-dominated opposition, a faction that has clashed with ISIS in recent years.
U.S. Army official briefed on the results of the operation told Newsweek that Baghdadi was killed in the raid. And the Defense Department told the White House they have "high confidence" that the high-value target killed was Baghdadi, but further verification is pending according to Newsweek.
This comes after President Trump tweeted: "Something very big has just happened!" He gave no further details.
More updates and details to follow.