Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Abu Bakr al-BaghdadiReuters

A Hezbollah-run media unit said on Friday that Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported to have been in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal during the Syrian army and its allies’ operation to clear it, Reuters reported.

The unit did not say what had happened to Baghdadi, nor did it provide further details or identify its sources.

The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS said later on Friday it had no “releasable information” on Baghdadi’s whereabouts.

There have been conflicting reports about Baghdadi's whereabouts in recent years and about whether he is even alive.

The Russian Defense Ministry said several months ago that al-Baghdadi might have been among a group of ISIS members who were killed in a Russian air strike on May 28 south of Raqqa, ISIS's de facto capital in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights subsequently claimed it had "confirmed information" that al-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 al-Baghdadi is still alive.

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

Syria’s army declared victory over ISIS on Thursday, saying its capture of the jihadists’ last town in the country marked the collapse of their three-year rule in the region.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)