BEIRUT — The Islamic State terrorist group on Saturday released a new message purportedly from its reclusive leader, claiming that his self-styled caliphate is doing well despite an unprecedented alliance against it and criticizing the recently announced Saudi-led Islamic military coalition against terrorism.
In the 24-minute audio, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said airstrikes by the international coalition only increase his group’s determination and resolve. The message, which was al-Baghdadi’s first since May, comes amid battlefield setbacks that the Islamic State has recently faced.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-backed coalition of rebels in Syria — including Syrian Kurdish, Arab and Christian groups — captured a major dam on the Euphrates River from the Islamic State group as part of the coalition’s march on terrorist-held areas in northern Syria.
The coalition, known as Syria Democratic Forces, earlier this week announced a new offensive aimed at cutting supply lines between Islamic State strongholds in the country’s north. The SDF said it seized the Tishrin Dam, which supplies much of northern Syria with electricity, on Saturday.
An SDF spokesman early last week told The Associated Press that his forces are also trying to cut the supply lines between the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa and the group’s stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria.
The SDF, dominated by the main Kurdish militia in Syria known as YPG, or People’s Protection Units, has become a main force in fighting the terrorist group.
The group has come under pressure in Syria and Iraq, where it has declared its self-styled Islamic caliphate on territory that the terrorist group controls. Last month, it lost the town of Sinjar in Iraq and areas across the border in Syria. Iraqi government troops are also advancing in the Islamic State-held city of Ramadi, the provincial capital of the sprawling Anbar province, Iraq’s Sunni heartland.
Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Russia in Syria have also destroyed Syrian oil facilities and killed several Islamic State leaders in recent weeks.
“It is unprecedented in the history of our Ummah (Islamic nation) that all the world came against it in one battle, as it is happening today. It is the battle of all the disbelievers against all the Muslims,” al-Baghdadi said.
He said the U.S.-led alliance does “not scare us.”
Al-Baghdadi also taunted the United States for not putting boots on the ground. “They do not dare to come, because their hearts are full of fear from the mujahideen,” or holy warriors, he said.
