Islamic State releases video said to be of leader al-Baghdadi
BEIRUT — The Islamic State group released a video Monday of a man it said was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s mysterious and reclusive leader, which would mark the first time he has showed his face while addressing his followers since the early days of the terrorist group’s rampage through Iraq and Syria.
In an 18-minute video released by an Islamic State media group and distributed by the SITE Intelligence Group, the man identified as al-Baghdadi sits on the ground in an Arab-style sitting room, speaking calmly to a group of unidentified followers with an assault rifle at his side.
He acknowledges that the group has lost its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, a territory the size of Britain that it ruled as an extremist protostate. But he said that the group’s battle with the West and its allies was far from over.
“Truthfully, the battle of Islam and its people with the crusader and his people is a long battle, and the battle of Baghuz finished and manifested in it was the brutality and savagery of the nation of the cross toward the nation of Islam,” the man said, his beard grayer than when he addressed his followers from a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul when the group was near the summit of its power. “At the same time, it showed and manifested the courage, fortitude and persistence of the nation of Islam.”
According to SITE, the video was the first time al-Baghdadi has been shown in a video since July 2014, when he gave a sermon in Mosul.
In the video, SITE says, he praises the attackers who carried out the bombing attacks in Sri Lanka last week, saying they were revenge for the loss of Baghuz, the Islamic State’s last territory in Syria, which it lost to U.S.backed forces a month ago. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka attacks, which killed at least 250 people.
While al-Baghdadi has not been seen in several years, he has been heard from. In August, the Islamic State released an audio recording said to be of him.