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In Washington, the Pentagon said it had “not yet conducted any strikes against targeted individuals,” but refused to rule out the possibility it was using drones for surveillance.

Several Raqqa residents and ISIS members have taken pictures of a white drone circling overhead, reporting it flew low over the city for most of Friday and again on Saturday.

Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, an anti-ISIS activist in Raqqa who posted pictures of the drone, said he had seen it on Friday. “It flew over the city for about three hours, from noon until 3 p.m.,” said Mr. Raqqawi, who uses a pseudonym. He added he saw the drone Saturday at the same time other residents posted reports of the sightings.

Experts said they believed the aircraft was an unarmed MQ1 Predator on a reconnaissance flight.

Aaron Stein, an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said it could be identified by its “distinct downward-facing V-shaped tail” and the photographs indicated it was unarmed.

“The evidence thus far suggests that the drone is acquiring imagery — and possibly signals intelligence — of Islamic State positions in the group’s most important stronghold,” he said.

Killing Baghdadi would be a major coup for Mr. Obama, who has been widely criticized for not taking sufficiently tough action against ISIS.

In July, the ISIS head made a surprise appearance in Mosul, Iraq’s second city, where he led men in prayers at the Great Mosque, but little is known about his whereabouts since then.

Aki Peritz, a former counter-terrorism analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, predicted Mr. Obama would order the strike if the opportunity arose.

“The U.S. is already exerting lethal force against the Islamic State. If it had the opportunity to take its top dog off the battlefield once and for all, the U.S. would pull the trigger,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph