In his propaganda video, Chief of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which was released asserted that the battle for Baghouz, IS’s final bastion in eastern Syria, ‘is over’. “There will be more to come after this battle,” said Baghdadi, apparently referring to the final fight in Baghouz.
Baghdadi had appeared for the first time in the propaganda video since delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014, declaring a ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria.
Al Jazeera cited the video, published by IS’s Al Furqan media network on Monday, in which the IS leader seemed to have grown a bushy grey beard.
He kept an assault weapon close by and sat in a cross-legged position on a cushion along with three men by his side whose faces were blurred.
Meanwhile, an audio message was also put out, purportedly of Baghdadi, saying that the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka, which left at least 253 people dead, was ‘vengeance’ for IS’s ‘brothers in Baghouz’.
“Your brothers in Sri Lanka have healed the hearts of monotheists [IS members] with their suicide bombings, which shook the beds of the crusaders during Easter to avenge your brothers in Baghouz,” Baghdadi was reportedly heard saying.
“Our battle today is a war of attrition to harm the enemy, and they should know that jihad will continue until doomsday,” he mentioned in the video.
The leader further insisted that IS’s operations against the West were part of a ‘long battle’ and the group would ‘take revenge’ for its members who had been killed.
Wearing a black robe with a beige vest, Baghdadi gave an 18-minute address in the video.
However, it is unclear when the footage was filmed.
