Appearing in a new Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS} video, 47-year-old leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, rumored killed June 15, 2017 in Russian air strike, looked alive-and-well sitting around a circle with his terrorist comrades. Al-Baghdadi emerged from the shadows to claim the April 21 Easter massacre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Islamic terrorists detonated suicide vests killing 253 at Catholic churches and local luxury hotels. Losing the last remnant March 23, of its caliphate in Baghouz, Syria, al-Baghdadi wanted to show his relevancy proudly claiming responsibility for the terrorist massacre in Colombo. While al-Baghdadi claimed in an 18-minute video revenge over losing Baghouz March 23, no one knows for sure the extent of ISIS’s role in Sri Lanka. Something think the Easter Massacre was revenge over the March 15 al-Noor mosque attack in Auckland, New Zealand.
When al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning over one-third of Iraq and Syria April 29, 2014, ISIS gave Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s former Baathist army a chance to retaliate against the United States. Al-Baghdadi watched al-Qaeda-in-Iraq’s leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi give the U.S. military fits, stringing up soldiers like Christmas ornaments on Iraqi bridges during the battles of Fallujah. When al-Zarqawi was killed by U.S. drone strike June 7, 2006, al-Baghdadi started to emerge from the shadows as Iraq’s next terrorist leader. Unlike Zarqawi, al-Baghdadi had bigger plans, seizing in 2014 some 30% of Iraqi and Syrian sovereign territory. While al-Zarqawi gave the U.S. military fits, he never seized one inch of land like al-Baghdadi. Al-Baghdadi convinced Saddam’s military dead-enders to serve in his de facto caliphate, giving al-Baghdadi military prowess.
Speaking via an unverified video, al-Baghadadi let the world know that ISIS was still relevant. “As for your brothers in Sri Lanka, they have put joy in the hearts of the monotheists with their immersing operations that struck the homes of the Crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz,” al-Bagdadi said, laughing at the high casualty count. “This is part of the vengeance that awaits Crusaders and their henchmen, Allah permitting. Praise be Allah, among the dead were Americans and Europeans,” al-Baghdadi said. Al-Baghadadi’s 18-minute video shows the world ISIS can still strike anywhere, this time in Sri Lanka. Appearing with an overgrown gray beard, al-Baghdadi has aged from June 29, 2014 when he declared himself the “Caliphe” of all Muslims. Gone are the days when ISIS controlled millions in illicit Iraqi oil revenue out of Kirkuk.
Appearing like Bin Laden before with an AK74U assault rifle, al-Baghdadi looked very much in control, despite losing his last ISIS refuge in Baghouz, Syria. Carrying a $25 million bounty on his head, the Pentagon sees al-Baghdadi as more important than his al-Qaeda counterpart, 67-year-old Ayman al-Zawahri. Both have the Pentagon’s $25 million reward, ecouraging one of his disciples to rat him out. “It’s impressive, given the amount of pressure he is under geographically, and also pretty interesting that his security apparatus can turn a video around so quickly without exposing him to air strikes,” J.M. Berger, author of “ISIS: The State of Terror” told ABC News. With 72-year-old Donald Trump declaring an end the Caliphate, al-Baghdadi had to show he’s still relevant. Getting foreign jihadists to blow themselves up shows the hold ISIS has on its followers.
Coming out of the shadows, al-Baghdadi showed he’s still a lethal force to be reckoned with. “We don’t know where he is, and finding the top leadership of ISIS or other terrorist groups is always and priority,” said Amb. Jim Jeffrey, special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Declaring that ISIS was defeated 100%, Trump saw ISIS lash out, reminding the Pentagon that there’s more work done to neutralize the world’s most lethal terror group. Baghdadi took responsibility of the October 2017 terror attacks in Nairobi, Kenya. While ISIS has lost territory in Iraq and Syria, they haven’t lost their global reach, showing plenty of resources in Niger to carry out deadly attacks. Coordinated bombings in Sri Lanka had ISIS’s fingerprints all over them at Catholic Churches and luxury hotels. Once defeated in Baghouz, Syria, the Pentagon thought ISIS had lost operational capability.
Showing like al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahri that he’s a slippery terrorist, al-Baghdadi looks to embarrass the White House and Pentagon, now that he’s no longer occupying much territory in Iraq and Syria. U.S, Special Forces thought they hit al-Baghdadi in August 2017, only to find him emerging from the shadows. “He is being opportunistic, probably because he has limited ability to “move, and communicate.” Sri Lanka’s coordinated attacks had ISIS fingerprints all out it. Whether ISIS’s Colombo attack was revenge for the mosque massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand is anyone’s guess. One things for sure, ISIS and al-Qaeda have a lot left in the tank to create mayhem at soft civilians targets. Receding into covert terrorist mode, al-Baghdadi still has the resources needed to create havoc in the U.S., European Union and other of targets around the globe.
