Baghdadi’s Video Message: Sri Lanka Attacks Were Retaliation for Baghouz Defeat
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, after five years of absence, praised the terrorist operations in Sri Lanka that killed 250 people in a video message. He stated that these operations were retaliation for ISIS’s defeat in Baghouz, the last stronghold of the “Islamic State” in Syria.
After five years of absence, the leader of the “Islamic State” (ISIS) sent a message again to his followers and enemies through a propaganda video.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, in a video released on Monday, April 29 (Ordibehesht 9) on media outlets close to ISIS, including “Al-Furqan”, references the end of the March clashes and ISIS’s defeat in the city of Baghouz, ISIS’s last stronghold in eastern Syria and border areas with Iraq.
Baghdadi in this video says that the attacks in Sri Lanka, which resulted in the death of 250 people, were carried out in retaliation for the Baghouz defeat.
According to the German news agency, the ISIS leader said in this video: “Your brothers in Sri Lanka, with their suicide bombings, have comforted the hearts of the monotheistic members of the ‘Islamic State’, and thus on the days of Easter, have struck fear into the beds of the Christian Crusaders to take revenge for the blood of the brothers of Baghouz.”
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi added in this video: “This is part of the revenge that the Crusaders should expect.”
The city of Baghouz, the last area under ISIS control, fell to the “Syrian Democratic Forces” on March 22, 2019 (Farvardin 1, 1397). The spokesman of this force announced complete victory over ISIS.
Mustafa Bali, one of the spokespersons of the “Syrian Democratic Forces”, had said that the city of Baghouz near the Iraqi border was completely seized and thus the geographical “caliphate” of the terrorist group known as the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” was dismantled. ISIS had managed to conquer a vast area in Iraq and Syria five years earlier. Baghouz was the last stronghold of this group.
Following this last battle, hundreds of ISIS fighters were killed and thousands were captured. Following this defeat, some of ISIS’s paramilitary forces retreated to the deserts surrounding Baghouz in Syrian territory.
It is still unclear where this 18-minute video was recorded. The video shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sitting cross-legged against a cushion and conversing with three men who have covered their faces.
During the past years, reports of his being wounded, ill, and even dead were repeatedly published in some reports, but in this video, at least apparently, no signs of physical injury are visible on him.
The United States government has set a reward of 25 million dollars for his head.
Al-Baghdadi last sent a video message with his sermon in the Al-Nuri Grand Mosque in the city of Mosul in early July 2014 and announced the caliphate. In that video, he called on Muslims to pledge allegiance to his caliphate.
Source: DW
