Baghdadi appears again, but much like bin Laden
The leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, appeared recently in a new video by his group.
Titled "Hosted by the
Emir of Muslims", the new video showed an al-Baghdadi much like the late
leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.
Sitting on a cushion on the
floor, al-Baghdadi gained a lot of weight since he last appeared five years
ago. He had a long beard, but it was dyed orange. He placed a black
handkerchief on his head. Behind him, there was a machine gun and in front of
him there were several men whose faces were blurred. The video is 18-minutes
long.
"The battle in Baghuz is
over already," al-Baghdadi said in the video.
This was the first time
al-Baghdadi appeared since July 2014. He mentioned the church attacks in Sri
Lanka. This showed that the video is not an old one. It was produced the
IS-affiliated al-Furqan Agency.
Al-Baghdadi's appearance
belies all previous reports about his death. His appearance also shows that IS
will turn from a central terrorist organization into one that has presence
everywhere in the world.
IS might have realized that
its ability to gain presence everywhere in the world would depend less on armed
struggle and more on assistance by the different terrorist networks available
in all countries. These networks are the real wealth of IS as it tries to
spread its ideology.
Al-Baghdadi went on in the
video to say that God ordered Muslims to maintain jihad, regardless of whether
they win or not.
He said the latest church
attacks in Sri Lanka were staged in revenge for the defeat of his organization
in Baghuz.
He said Muslims' war against
Christians would be long and that the Sri Lanka attacks would be followed by
other attacks.
Al-Baghdadi said his group's
fighters who were defeated several times in the past few months would
retaliate.
He added that several
terrorist organizations had sworn allegiance to IS, including in Burkina Faso
and Mali.
The noticeable thing still is
that IS did not call al-Baghdadi "caliph" this time as it did in the
past. It only called him "Muslims' Emir".
This is additional proof that
his organization is no longer in control of any territories.
One of the men appearing in
the video with Baghdadi was showed handing him a number of reports, including
one on Sinai.
He talked about Sinai and the
IS leaders in it. Almost all these leaders are Saudi nationals. One of them is
Iraqi and another is from Sinai itself.
He then talked about Libya,
calling on IS fighters in it to maintain their operations. He said IS staged
more than 92 attacks in Libya last month.
Al-Baghdadi used words and
phrases that were first coined by Sayyed Qotb, the theoretician of the Muslim
Brotherhood movement. The same words and phrases show that IS would not
tolerate difference.
The way al-Baghdadi appeared
also shows the indifference of his organization to defeat. It also shows that
the organization would continue to draw in backers, including other terrorist
networks.
Attrition strategies
Al-Baghdadi talked about the
downfall of the Omar al-Bashir regime in Sudan. He also talked about
developments in Algeria. He referred to a botched terrorist attack in Saudi
Arabia.
He said this latest attack
would be followed by others. Al-Baghdadi also lashed out at Saudi rulers.
The fact is that al-Baghdadi's
appearance in this manner shows that his organization will maintain its
attrition strategy in the future.
This strategy was used by
al-Qaeda in the past. It first appeared in the 1970s, until the Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan.
IS finds itself obliged to
change its own strategies because of the defeats it had sustained. But this
change must be carried out in an environment that ensures its success. This
means that IS will be keen to carry attacks in the future in areas where it can
prove success.
IS also has to depend on small
cells to implement its strategy. These cells will operate independently. They
will also seek to widen the scope of their operations with the aim of spreading
the ideology of the organization even more.
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