TEHRAN, Nov 29_Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has once again cast doubt on his US counterpart Donald Trump’s claim that Daesh ringleader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an operation by the US military last month, calling the much-publicized operation a “fantastic play” staged by the Americans.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)_Assad made the remarks in an interview with the French magazine Paris Match published on Wednesday.
Trump announced Baghdadi’s death in a military raid by US forces in Syria’s Idlib province late in October. During his announcement Trump, thanked the Syrian government, among others, for helping with the operation.
When asked whether Damascus really gave the US information on al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts, Assad said he “always laughs when this question is raised, because the more important question which should be asked is: was al-Baghdadi really killed or not? And did this “fantastic play” staged by the Americans take place in reality?”
Asked again why Trump thanked him, Assad said, “It’s one of Trump’s cute jokes. It’s a joke.”
The interview comes a few weeks after Assad told the Syria TV news network that the US operation to kill al-Baghdadi was little more than a trick, because US politics “is no different from Hollywood; it relies on mere imagination, not even science fiction.”
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