Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to ISIS militants: Have patience, step up your attack

The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target "media centers of the infidels," according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The reclusive leader of Islamic State, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on his jihadis for their valor in the battlefield — despite the militants' loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.

The recording was released by the Islamic State-run al-Furqan outlet, which has in the past released messages from al-Baghdadi and other top figures of the extremist group. The voice in the over 46-minute-long audio sounded much like previous recordings of al-Baghdadi. His last previous purported message was released in November, also in an audio recording.

"You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies," said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the Sunni terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner.

Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital. US officials later said they believed he was still alive.

Al-Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in Islamic State' dwindling territory in eastern Syria. The Islamic State-held cities of Raqqa and Deir el-Zour are under siege and likely too dangerous for him to hide in. Some Islamic State leadership is believed to have gone to the nearby town of Mayadeen, and the group still holds a stretch of the Euphrates River from Deir el-Zour to the Iraqi border, as well as remote desert areas along the border.
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ISIS leader al-Baghdadi probably still alive, says top US army commander

Islamic State (IS) group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander has said, contradicting Russia's claims that it probably killed the top counter-terror target months ago.

"Do I believe he's alive? Yes," said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen "rumour or otherwise" that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: "There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive." Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad yesterday, Townsend said the US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.
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Islamic State is on its knees, but its legacy will long haunt Middle East

After three years of violence, Islamic State has encountered a major defeat that could mean that its end is near. On July 10 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, after a successful nine-month military offensive to “liberate” the northern city of Mosul, declared “total victory” over IS in Iraq.

He categorically said: “I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul”, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS or ISIL.

Almost exactly three years ago, on June 29 2014, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the group’s self-styled caliph, proclaimed a cross-border caliphate stretching over vast swathes of northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria.


Today, the Iraqi half of that territory has been almost totally eliminated (the northwestern Iraqi city of Tel Afar, close to the Syrian border, being an exception) while the Syrian half, based in the city of Raqqa, is facing imminent collapse under powerful US-backed Kurdish-led military offensives.

It’s a major turning point.

In the summer of 2014, an ISIL blitzkrieg swiftly defeated Iraqi defence forces across northwestern Iraq, capturing some 40% of Iraqi territories.

Prior to this rapid conquest, ISIL fighters had captured the Syrian province of Raqqa in January 2014, taking advantage of the bloody civil war let loose by pro-democracy movements.
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ISIS surrenders leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's hideout in Iraq

The Islamic State has surrendered the key town of Baaj in north-west Iraq, which was a known hideout of the terrorist group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Baaj had been under Islamist militants' control throughout the 14 years of war and insurgency.

After the surrender, the remaining ISIS fighters fled the town on Saturday night, allowing Shia militia forces to enter unopposed.

"The Iraqi flag has been hoisted above its buildings," a statement from the Popular Mobilisation Front, which is an umbrella organisation for pro-government paramilitaries that is dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, announced the "total liberation" of the Baaj district.

The withdrawal leaves just a pocket of Mosul and the border town of Bukamal as the only urban centres in Iraq with a significant ISIS presence.

Bukamal is expected to be a new focus of both Iranian and US efforts.

Meanwhile, US-backed Kurdish troops are now within sight of Raqqa on three sides of the city and the battle to retake the city is likely to start sometime this month.
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