WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has disclosed the name of the dog wounded in the U.S. special operations raid near the Syria-Turkey border that killed the leader of the Islamic State.

He also said the courageous canine would soon pay a visit to the White House.

Commenting on a previous post in which he shared an altered photograph that depicted him bestowing a medal on the dog, Trump tweeted Wednesday that "the 'live'"version of Conan will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week!"

Trump's tweet was the first official declaration that the dog he dubbed an "American hero" was named Conan. The name already had been shared in some reports earlier Wednesday that cited unnamed sources.

Conan, a Belgian Malinois, accompanied the team of U.S. commandos that entered Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound in northern Syria, Trump said Sunday. The dog was wounded when al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being chased into a dead-end tunnel, killing himself and three of his children.

Many people were amused that the dog's name and gender had been kept secret, including Twitter users who shared images of their pets under a #DeclassifiedDog hashtag. But retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a military analyst for CNN, explained in a tweet that "there's actually a security reason for it" related to concerns that the dog's identity could be used to identify the special forces unit.

On Sunday, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to release the dog's name and said it was "still in theater." He said it had "performed a tremendous service" and had been "slightly wounded" but had returned to duty after treatment.

Trump had shared the image of himself putting the medal on Conan earlier Wednesday on his Twitter account. The picture was created by The Daily Wire, and Trump thanked the conservative news site for the "very cute recreation."

Some on social media were less enthusiastic about the fact that in the image a Medal of Honor winner – Vietnam veteran James McCloughan – had been replaced by a dog. Others, including Trump's son Eric, were flabbergasted that some reporters had sought confirmation if the photo, which clearly appeared to have been doctored, was real.

'American hero':Trump tweets doctored image of himself giving medal to dog wounded in al-Baghdadi raid

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Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook