ISIS Leader Baghdadi to Israel: Palestine Will Be Your Graveyard

Recent losses and air strikes have not weakened the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group’s reclusive leader purportedly said in an audio message, even as the militants lose ground to Iraqi forces in a key city.

IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent out a 24-minute-long audio message on Sunday, but got a response he was not expecting from Muslims around the world.

“The Jews thought we forgot Palestine and that they had distracted us from it”, Baghdadi says in the recording.

In the speech, al-Baghdadi acknowledged escalating pressure on the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS or ISIL, but framed it as a worldwide attack by “disbelievers” against Muslims.

The authenticity of the audio could not be independently confirmed but it was posted on IS-affiliated websites and Twitter as past IS messages. “We are getting closer to you day by day”. “If this coalition were Islamic, it would have announced victory and aid to the people of Syria”, he said. Baghdadi called for Saudi citizens to “rise up against the apostate tyrants, and avenge your people in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen”.

He also promises a battle aimed at Israel and in support of Palestinians, who have been in conflict for centuries in the Middle East. He has been reported injured or killed several times in fighting, apparently incorrectly.

Sounding a bit like a football coach trying to rally a losing team at halftime, the Islamic State leader downplayed the damage from Western-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

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

Al-Baghdadi’s threat was delivered as Iraqi troops moved closer to ousting Islamic State group fighters from their last remaining stronghold in Ramadi and Syrian rebels are seeking safe passage out of Damascus. Also, it was produced by the al-Furqan Media Foundation, IS media arm.

A dam, formerly under the control of ISIS, was also taken away from them by the Kurdish Peshmerga.

But Bahgdadi claimed: “Don’t worry, O Muslims, your state is fine and expanding every day, and with every harshness that comes upon it, it spits out the hypocrites and agents and becomes more firm and strong”.