Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Abu Bakr al-BaghdadiReuters

The deputy of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed, according to the Lebanese based news agency Al Mayadeen.

The report, however, has not been confirmed by other news outlets.

Earlier this month, reports citing Iraqi and US officials said that al-Baghdadi himself was still alive, but that injury and poor health had forced him to relinquish control of the terror group.

In recent years,there have been endless conflicting reports about Baghdadi's whereabouts and about whether he is even alive.

The Russian Defense Ministry said several months ago that the ISIS leader might have been among a group of ISIS members who were killed in a Russian air strike south of Raqqa, ISIS's de facto capital in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights subsequently claimed it had "confirmed information" that Baghdadi has been killed, citing high-level ISIS commanders.

U.S. officials, however, have remained skeptical. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in late July he assumes that Baghdadi is still alive.

In September, ISIS released a recording of Baghdadi, presumably to refute reports of his death.

The most recent report, citing a Hezbollah-run media unit, said the ISIS leader was in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal during the Syrian army and its allies’ operation to clear it. The unit did not say what had happened to Baghdadi.