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IS Threatens U.S., Tries to Rally Support in New Audio Message
[AnNahar] The Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group appeared to try to keep morale high among its supporters in a new audio message released on Saturday, which also called for attacks on the U.S. during the holy month of Ramadan. The audio recording reportedly featuring IS front man Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was posted online late Saturday evening after much fanfare by IS supporters on Twitter. "Will we be defeated if we lose djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , or Sirte, or Raqa, or all the cities, and go back to how we were before?" Adnani said. The three cities are IS's strongholds in Iraq, Libya, and Syria respectively. "No. Defeat is only losing the desire and the will to fight," Adnani continued, in his first voiced speech since October. The front man appeared to mock the United States, which is leading a coalition of countries in an air war against IS in Iraq and Syria, for failing to definitively defeat IS. He said even "20,000 air strikes" by the coalition had not destroyed IS. Adnani also called for attacks on the U.S. and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early June this year, an appeal he made at the same time last year when urging supporters to seek "martyrdom". On Friday, flyers apparently dropped by the coalition on Raqa city in northern Syria urged residents to leave the city, perhaps ahead of an offensive by anti-IS forces to recapture it. "It would appear IS is more clearly acknowledging its limitations in holding territory" while stressing the "idea of living on despite losses," wrote jihadism expert Aymenn al-Tamimi in reaction to Adnani's recording. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-05-23 |
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