ISIS leader Baghdadi says ‘caliphate’ well

The ISIS 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 criticising 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 was al-Baghdadi’s first since May, and comes amid battlefield setbacks that ISIS has recently faced.

Airstrikes by the US-led coalition and Russia in Syria have also destroyed Syrian oil facilities and killed several ISIS 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 US-led alliance does “not scare us... nor do they scatter our resolve because we are the victors in any event.”

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.

“America and its allies dream of destroying the caliphate through their proxies and henchmen, and whenever an alliance of theirs fails or a tail is cut, they hasten to establish another, until they recently declared the Salouli (Saudi) alliance that was falsely called Islamic,” al-Baghdadi added.

If the Saudi-led alliance was truly Islamic, then it would fight the Syrian Army and its Russian “masters,” as well as Shia and Jews, al-Baghdadi said.

In mid-December, Saudi Arabia announced the new, 34-member alliance against terrorism, to be based in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh. But Shia powerhouse Iran is not part of the new coalition; neither are Iraq and Syria, whose forces are battling to regain ground from the ISIS group and whose governments are allied with Tehran.

In the audio, al-Baghdadi also warned nations taking part in the war against ISIS by saying: “We promise you, God permitting, that whoever participates in the war against the Islamic State will pay the price dearly.”

He threatened Israel by saying, “we haven’t forgotten you” and “we are getting closer to you” every day. To Israeli Jews, he said that they “will hide behind trees and stones” from the ISIS.