Moscow is claiming that a Russian airstrike killed ISIS spokesman and key figure Abu Mohammed al-Adnani in Syria on Tuesday. According to Russia’s defense ministry, he was one of 40 rebels who were killed by Russian bomber planes in Maaratat-Umm Khaush, in the Aleppo province.

The U.S., on the other hand, calls the claim preposterous–one U.S. defense official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, that “Russia’s claim is a joke.”

The U.S. also conducted an airstrike targeting al-Adnani on Tuesday, but has not confirmed whether he was killed. One official said of Russia’s claims to CNN: “It would be laughable but for the very real humanitarian suffering Russia has inflicted.” He added: “We conducted a strike that targeted al-Adnani. We are assessing the results of that strike.”

The official spokesman of ISIS and one of its most senior members has died https://t.co/tXFjE27j1Q pic.twitter.com/646KFp3oLF

— CNN International (@cnni) August 31, 2016

On Tuesday, ISIS announced on its own news agency Amaq that al-Adnani had died during an inspection of military operations. The cause of death was not revealed, but ISIS members said they are determined to seek revenge. They said:

To the filthy and coward nonbelievers and to the holders of the Christ emblem, we bring the good news, which will keep them awake, that a new generation in the Islamic State … that loves death more than life … this generation will only grow steadfast on the path to Jihad, stay determined to seek revenge and be violent toward them.

If al-Adnani is dead, it would mean a significant blow to the terrorist organization. He was one of the remaining founding members and a visible one in his role as ISIS spokesman. He’s been responsible for attacks abroad–Al-Adnani was probably the commander behind the terror attacks in Paris in 2015, and has been encouraging lone wolf attacks on civilians. He was also the right hand of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“He absolutely tried to maximize every opportunity to instill fear in Syria and Iraq and the international community and send fighters overseas to attack,” said CNN correspondent and diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Recent advances by Iraq and its allies toward the city of Mosul, where ISIS has its most important foothold, combined with the U.S. coalition cutting ISIS off from the border of Turkey has put pressure on the group. A U.S. counter terrorism official said that if al-Adnani is indeed dead, it would hurt the Islamic State “in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base … and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Russia Takes Responsibility For Killing ISIS Spokesman, U.S. Calls Claim a Joke appeared first on Law Street.

Hey y’all!

Earlier this week a 15-year-old girl and her 11-year-old sister were involved in a shooting at their rural Florida home. The older girl fatally shot her brother while he slept.

My first question when reading about this was, where are the parents? I bet you are wondering, too. Well the father is a truck driver who had to work from Sunday until Tuesday. That makes sense, so then where was the mother? She apparently went with her husband, leaving their 16-year-old son in charge of the household. I’m sorry, that doesn’t sound like good parenting to begin with. I would not let my children be supervised by my 16-year-old son, I would have a babysitter come or maybe only one parent should’ve gone. Perhaps the one with the job? I don’t see why the mom felt the need to leave her children. Not only did these parents decide to leave their son in charge of these girls, but also their three-year-old daughter. That’s a lot of responsibility for a teenager, and not the best idea on the parents’ part.

Reports claim that the boy locked his 15-year-old sister in her room and then fell asleep. The girl talked her 11-year-old sister into letting her out as he slept. Once freed from her room she headed into her parents’ bedroom where she knew they kept a gun; however, this young girl did not just walk through the door into the parents’ bedroom, oh no, she had to go to the outside of the house with a knife and remove the air conditioning unit that was installed in the bedroom window in order to get in, as they apparently had locked their bedroom door before they left.

The girl headed straight to the location where her parents kept their pistol, loaded it, and went into the room where her brother slept, pulling the trigger. The scary part is that the 15 year old knew what she was doing and told her 11-year-old sister to hide in a closet before she killed their brother.  After shooting her brother she buried her head in a pillow before returning to the living room to find her three-year-old sister trying to wake up her dead brother. Upon seeing this, the two older girls fled the house, leaving the three year old to fend for herself next to their dead brother. It was only after the 11 year old called a friend for a ride that police were able to find the girls.

The parents were notified and have admitted to locking up the 15 year old for up to 20 consecutive days in her bedroom for “misbehaving.” Through police reports and interviews it has also been discovered that the 15 year old had a single blanket and a bucket to use the bathroom when she was locked up.

Things make a bit more sense when you realize how neglectful and irresponsible the parents were. It’s hard to know what possibly happened to lead to being locked in the bedroom. Did the brother beat his sister before locking her in her bedroom? She could have just snapped and felt like she needed to protect herself and her siblings. Although I understand that, I feel like it was also premeditated. She knew where the gun was located, that it needed to be loaded, and to protect her little sister from seeing what was about to happen.

The 15- and 11-year-old girls are being held at a juvenile detention center while a prosecutor decides whether they should be tried as adults or not. The parents are also facing charges of child neglect and failing to supervise.

Allison Dawson

Allison Dawson was born in Germany and raised in Mississippi and Texas. A graduate of Texas Tech University and Arizona State University, she’s currently dedicating her life to studying for the LSAT. Twitter junkie. Conservative. Get in touch with Allison at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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