Hamartia Antidote
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https://www.newsweek.com/isis-baghdadi-admits-defeat-syria-1409045?amp=1
A man purported to be ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaks to unidentified men from an undisclosed location in this undated video released April 29 by the group's official Al-Furqan media outlet. If confirmed, this would be Baghdadi's first sighting in nearly five years.
The elusive leader-at-large of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has appeared in a new clip released by the jihadi organization, appearing to disprove long-standing rumors about his death or failing health.
In a roughly 18-minute video released by the ISIS-affiliated Al-Furqan media outlet, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could be seen seated on a mattress in front of a plain white background and beside an Kalashnikov-style assault rifle. Speaking to followers whose faces are obscured, Baghdadi proclaims that "the battle of Islam and its people against the cross and its people is a long battle," but concedes his group's loss against a U.S.-led coalition and mostly Kurdish allies in a small town in Syria's far east.
"The battle of Baghouz is finished, but it demonstrated the barbarity and savagery of the crusader community towards the Muslim community," said Baghdadi, adding that "at the same time" the battle proved the "courage" and "resilience" of his hard-line Islamist followers in the face of Christianity.
There will be more to come after this battle," he said, vowing to "drain" his enemies "of all their capabilities—human, military, economic, logistic, in everything—today's battle is a battle of attrition."
The tape, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, included text suggesting it was recorded this month. It was released on the sixth anniversary of ISIS' founding in April 2013 and would be the first time Baghdadi has been seen since he announced he was expanding his jihadi outfit on a global scale during a sermon delivered at Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's second city of Mosul in July 2014.
That same year, ISIS would become the target of a multinational coalition assembly by the U.S., which began bombing the group across large parts of Iraq and Syria under Baghdadi's command. At the same time, Iran pursued its own campaigns in support of both countries' governments, and Russia launched an intervention backing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and target of the U.S.
In the years since, ISIS' so-called caliphate has been physically destroyed by various forces on separate, sometimes rival fronts. As the U.S.-led coalition and its Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces took the final town of Baghouz last month, Baghdadi's whereabouts—information now worth about $25 million to the State Department—remained a mystery.
Numerous reports emerged suggesting he was killed by airstrikes or that his health had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer in control of his global jihadi network; the only evidence of his continued survival were several audio messages attributed to him. A month before his August message, Baghdadi's son was reported to have died in a suicide operation in Syria.
Late last month, James Jeffrey, U.S. special envoy for Syria, admitted, "We don’t know where he is, and finding the top leadership of ISIS or other terrorist groups is always a priority."
As recently as Friday, Russia's military intelligence chief offered a similar response. Vice-Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of the Russian general staff's Main Intelligence Department, told the state-run Tass news agency that Baghdadi's "whereabouts are unknown" but "he is definitely not in Idlib" and "on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, only 'sleeper' IS cells remain."
A man purported to be ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaks to unidentified men from an undisclosed location in this undated video released April 29 by the group's official Al-Furqan media outlet. If confirmed, this would be Baghdadi's first sighting in nearly five years.
The elusive leader-at-large of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has appeared in a new clip released by the jihadi organization, appearing to disprove long-standing rumors about his death or failing health.
In a roughly 18-minute video released by the ISIS-affiliated Al-Furqan media outlet, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could be seen seated on a mattress in front of a plain white background and beside an Kalashnikov-style assault rifle. Speaking to followers whose faces are obscured, Baghdadi proclaims that "the battle of Islam and its people against the cross and its people is a long battle," but concedes his group's loss against a U.S.-led coalition and mostly Kurdish allies in a small town in Syria's far east.
"The battle of Baghouz is finished, but it demonstrated the barbarity and savagery of the crusader community towards the Muslim community," said Baghdadi, adding that "at the same time" the battle proved the "courage" and "resilience" of his hard-line Islamist followers in the face of Christianity.
There will be more to come after this battle," he said, vowing to "drain" his enemies "of all their capabilities—human, military, economic, logistic, in everything—today's battle is a battle of attrition."
The tape, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, included text suggesting it was recorded this month. It was released on the sixth anniversary of ISIS' founding in April 2013 and would be the first time Baghdadi has been seen since he announced he was expanding his jihadi outfit on a global scale during a sermon delivered at Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's second city of Mosul in July 2014.
That same year, ISIS would become the target of a multinational coalition assembly by the U.S., which began bombing the group across large parts of Iraq and Syria under Baghdadi's command. At the same time, Iran pursued its own campaigns in support of both countries' governments, and Russia launched an intervention backing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and target of the U.S.
In the years since, ISIS' so-called caliphate has been physically destroyed by various forces on separate, sometimes rival fronts. As the U.S.-led coalition and its Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces took the final town of Baghouz last month, Baghdadi's whereabouts—information now worth about $25 million to the State Department—remained a mystery.
Numerous reports emerged suggesting he was killed by airstrikes or that his health had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer in control of his global jihadi network; the only evidence of his continued survival were several audio messages attributed to him. A month before his August message, Baghdadi's son was reported to have died in a suicide operation in Syria.
Late last month, James Jeffrey, U.S. special envoy for Syria, admitted, "We don’t know where he is, and finding the top leadership of ISIS or other terrorist groups is always a priority."
As recently as Friday, Russia's military intelligence chief offered a similar response. Vice-Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of the Russian general staff's Main Intelligence Department, told the state-run Tass news agency that Baghdadi's "whereabouts are unknown" but "he is definitely not in Idlib" and "on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, only 'sleeper' IS cells remain."
