Conflicting reports have emerged in recent days over the fate of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi amid claims that he was “clinically dead.” An Iraqi intelligence source announced on Monday that the Iraqi air force had targeted a meeting of ISIS leaders in Syria in June, leaving several of them dead or injured, including Baghdadi. He was severely wounded and left clinically dead, which prompted some non-Iraqi ISIS leaders to nominate Abou Othman al-Tunisi as his successor, added the source. This caused deep and unprecedented divisions among ISIS because the Iraqi members of the group rejected the nomination. Armed groups expert Dr. Hisham al-Hashemi, meanwhile, questioned to Asharq Al-Awsat the credibility of the information revealed by the intelligence source. He said that out of 43 main ISIS leaders, Baghdadi was the last one left alive. His location has been pinpointed and he is believed to be moving around in the desert region north of the Euphrates River in Iraq and Syria, he revealed. Evidence of his survival has been confirmed by confessions obtained from three ISIS detainees, he added. Security expert Fadel Abou Ragheef said that the Iraqi intelligence source provided compelling evidence to support claims of Baghdadi’s death. He said that he was indeed targeted in a potentially fatal strike in Syria. He has also been away from the spotlight for months, which may mean that he was indeed dead, not just “clinically.”