In the latest round of violence in Syria's nearly nine-year-old war, regime forces have upped their deadly bombardment of the northwestern opposition bastion of Idlib in recent weeks
Though the Trump administration is yet to announce the death of Baghdadi, media has reported that he was killed in the operation conducted by US Army's elite Delta Force
Another consideration in the decision was Washington's Kurdish-led ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces, were looking to make a deal with Russia to counter the Turkish onslaught
The US, Britain and France struck military positions and research facilities linked to chemical weapons in Damascus and Homs overnight to retaliate against their suspected use in an April 7 attack