Shadowy Islamic State leader appears in a video for first time in five years
Beirut: The shadowy Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has appeared in a video for the first time in five years, indicating that he has survived the territorial defeat of the caliphate he proclaimed.
Seated on a flowered mattress in a bare white room, he acknowledged defeat in the group's last stronghold in Syria but vowed that the fight is not over, and he congratulated the perpetrators of the Sri Lanka bombing attacks.
In the video, he appeared to have a machine gun beside him and he spoke with three men seated opposite him whose faces were covered and blotted out.
His beard has greyed since his only other video appearance, in July 2014, when he first announced the Islamic State's intent to recreate the Islamic caliphate at the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul.
But otherwise Baghdadi looked to be in good health and showed no obvious sign of injury, despite numerous reports in recent years that he had been wounded in an airstrike.
The timing of the video, which was released on Tuesday by the Islamic State's Furqan channel, seemed to confirm the widespread belief that he survived the Islamic State's final stand at the battle of Baghouz in eastern Syria last month. He is thought to be hiding out in the desert in either Syria or Iraq, but the video gave no clues as to his current whereabouts.
Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, said the video illustrates the "serious danger" Baghdadi still poses as the leader of the group.
His appearance demonstrates not only the fact that Baghdadi is still alive, "but also that he is able to reemerge to his supporters and reaffirm the group's us-vs-the-world message after all the progress made against the group," she said in a posting on her Twitter account.
Bagdadi acknowledged that Islamic State lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, which was captured last month by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
"In fact, the battle of Islam and its people against the Crusaders and their followers is a long battle," he said.
He said the battle of Baghouz demonstrated the "barbarism and brutality" of the West and the "courage, steadfastness and resilience of the nation of Islam".
"This steadfastness shocked the hearts of the Crusaders in what increased their rage," he added.
Referring to the setbacks in battle, he said the "brothers" of the many fallen fighters "will avenge that, as they will not forget as long as they have blood in their veins, and there will be a battle after this one."
With a $US25 million ($35.4 million) bounty on his head, Baghdadi is the world's most wanted man, responsible for steering his chillingly violent organisation into mass slaughter of opponents, and directing and inspiring terror attacks across continents and in the heart of Europe.
Although largely seen as a symbolic figurehead of the global terror network - he was described as "irrelevant for a long time" by a coalition spokesman in 2017 - Baghdadi's capture would be a coveted prize for the various players across both Syria and Iraq.
But so far, he has eluded the Americans, Russians, Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds.
Washington Post, AP