The leader of Muslim terror group ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has appeared on video for the first time in nearly five years.
ISIS exists largely in the minds and memories of what's left of its adherents since President Trump kept his campaign promise to eradicate ISIS. Their cowardly leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. has emerged like a rat from whatever hole he has been hiding in, to basically take credit for any and all Islamic terrorism happening anywhere including the recent murders in Sri Lanka.
The WSJ reports that "the first
direct links between Islamic State and those who carried out the deadly bombings came as the group released on Monday
a rare recorded videopurportedly of its leader, 47-year-old Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the video, which couldn't be independently confirmed by The Wall Street Journal and would be the first known footage of the jihadist in nearly five years, Baghdadi urged followers to fight on despite the setbacks. He called the Sri Lanka attacks an act of revenge following the caliphate’s loss of its last strip of territory in Syria."
Well, now that we know that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is most likely still alive, it looks like President Trump can go have fun playing 18 holes this weekend. And I'm not talking about golf.
Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seen in new video for first time in five years
FROM THE UK INDEPENDENT: The group’s media arm released a speech by the elusive leader on Monday, in which he addresses the territorial defeat of Isis in Syria and praises recent terror attacks around the world. It is the first time he has been pictured since July 2014, when he announced the creation of the Isis caliphate from the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul.
Although ISIS has released several audio recordings from Baghdadi over the past few years, his fate has been the subject of intense speculation. Following the capture of the last of the group’s territory, western intelligence agencies have speculated that he had gone into hiding somewhere in the desert regions of Iraq or Syria.
The jihadist leader, became emir of the Islamic State of Iraq group in 2010, took it from underground insurgency to a proto-state that ruled over around 10 million people. Since the last time he appeared in public, the once mighty caliphate has all but crumbled, and thousands of his fighters have been killed or languish in jail cells.
In the 18-minute video, entitled “
In the Hospitality of the Emir of the Believers”, Baghdadi sits cross-legged alongside three other Isis members whose faces are blurred, next to a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition belt. He praises the recent terror attacks in Sri Lanka, which targeted churches and hotels and left more than 250 people dead, calling it “revenge” for Baghouz – the small Syrian village where Isis made its last stand.
“And as for our brothers in Sri Lanka, I was overjoyed when I heard about the suicide attack, which overthrew the cradles of the crusaders, and avenged them for our brethren in Baghouz,” he said. During this section, however, Baghdadi was not in view.
Instead, what appeared to be a voice recording of the leader was used over video of the atrocities and the pledge of allegiance by the attackers, giving rise to speculation that these comments may have been recorded at a separate time.
“It was by the grace of God that there were Americans and Europeans in Sri Lanka,” he said. “They questioned God, who answered in the form of bringing the suicide attackers.”
“Honestly, the battle of Islam and its people against the cross and its people is a long battle,” he said. “The battle of Baghouz is over. But it did show the savagery, brutality and ill intentions of the Christians towards the Muslim community.”
He added that Isis would seek revenge for the killing and imprisonment of its militants, and that his group was in a “battle of attrition”.
Baghdadi has been rumoured to have been killed a number of times. In 2017, Russia said it was investigating whether one of its airstrikes on the city of Raqqa killed him and 300 other fighters. Other reports suggested he had been incapacitated by a US-led coalition strike.
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