IS releases recording of leader Baghdadi
DAMASCUS — The Islamic State (IS) issued Thursday what appears to be the first recording in nearly a year of its reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a move that seems intended to silence rumors of his death and to galvanize his pummeled troops.
The 46-minute audio recording would be the first time since November that supporters of the jihadi group have heard the voice of their self-proclaimed caliph.
Since then, the group has lost significant territory, including Mosul, Iraq, which had been the largest city under its control, and much of the group’s capital Raqa, Syria.
In the recording, al-Baghdadi praised his foot soldiers for waging a tenacious battle in Mosul.
“They fulfilled their promise and their responsibility, and they did not give up except over their skulls and body parts,” he said.
“Thus they were excused, after nearly a year of fighting and confrontation,” Baghdadi said.
He also accused the USbacked troops they faced of using scorched-earth tactics.
“They burned the people, trees, and everything on the ground,” he said, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group. But instead of pondering those losses, alBaghdadi, 46, emphasized the threat the West still faces from the Islamic State, making indirect references to recent attacks on the Underground in London, in the heart of Barcelona and in Russia.
“Now the Americans, the Russians and the Europeans are living in terror in their countries, fearing the strikes of the mujahedeen,” he said.
The recording, which was widely disseminated to IS supporters in their chat rooms on the messaging app Telegram, begins with the voice of a narrator who introduces al-Baghdadi and adds, “May Allah protect him.” That phrase is used to refer to people who are still living and is intended to signal that al-Baghdadi is not dead, contrary to reports over the summer.
The recording also cites current events, including the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, suggesting that it was recorded in recent weeks.
In June, the Russian military said it might have killed al-Baghdadi in a strike on IS leaders in May near Raqa.
In July, a British-based monitoring organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said senior IS commanders had confirmed that al-Baghdadi had been killed in Deir el-Zour province.
Neither report could be independently confirmed, and US officials immediately cast doubt on their credibility. Despite the doubts, rumors of al-Baghdadi’s death continued to swirl.
More important than the content of the audio is the fact that it served as a “proofof-life message,” said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.