For the first time in five years, the Islamic State has released a video which the group claims is of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The last and only other time the elusive ISIS leader appeared in a video was his 2014 announcement of the formation of the Islamic State caliphate. He gave the 2014 speech at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was then under ISIS control.
The video, released by ISIS’ al-Furqan Media, appears to confirm that Baghdadi is still alive and has survived the territorial defeat of ISIS. In the clip, Baghdadi is seen seated on a mattress in a plain white room speaking with three other men whose faces are blurred. Despite no official confirmation of the authenticity of the video, experts who have analyzed the video say that it is him.
In the clip, Baghdadi praised the Easter Day terror attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people and discussed ISIS’ territorial loss, specifically the group’s battle in the Syrian city of Baghouz. The battle, which ended in March, effectively spelled the end of ISIS’ territorial claims in Syria and was seen as a final blow to Baghdadi’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
In an exclusively audio portion of the video, Baghdadi claims the bombings in Sri Lanka were revenge for Baghouz, according to SITE Intelligence Group Executive Director Rita Katz.
“God ordered us to wage ‘jihad.’ He did not order us to win,” Baghdadi reportedly said in the video. “There will be more to come after this battle.”
3) In the vid, titled “In the Hospitality of the Emir of the Believers,” Baghdadi praises #SriLanka attackers over images of the attackers/attack (though not in the visual interview section; the audio may have thus been added via a later recording)–calling it revenge for Baghouz pic.twitter.com/VbRe2YblLJ
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) April 29, 2019
Despite the vastly diminished influence of ISIS, the emergence of Monday’s video shows that the group still has some form of organizational structure. There are other smaller terrorist organizations that claim allegiance to ISIS, like National Thowheeth Jama’ath, the group officials believe is directly responsible for the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka.
