ERBIL // The elusive leader of ISIL has released a message urging his followers to keep up the fight against a major offensive to rout the extremists from Mosul, their last urban stronghold in Iraq.
Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s rallying cry came in a sermon-like recording, more than half an hour long, distributed by ISIL’s Al Furqan media arm late on Wednesday.
It was not clear when the recording was produced, but it contained references to events of recent weeks.
Iraqi special forces stormed into Mosul’s eastern outskirts on Tuesday after two weeks of advances through ISIL-held territory around the city. They continued to consolidate their foothold in the eastern district of Gogjali on Thursday despite a pair of attempted car bomb attacks on their positions.
Baghdadi visited Mosul soon after ISIL captured the city in June 2014 and declared a “caliphate” that at one point covered nearly a third of Iraq and Syria.
In his recording, he rallies his fighters – especially in Mosul – and calls on them to obey orders while remaining resilient and steadfast.
He urges ISIL militants to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia, whose leadership ISIL opposes, and Turkey, which has deployed troops and artillery north of Mosul and is training Sunni Arab and Kurdish forces there. Both countries are members of the global US-led coalition against ISIL.
Baghdadi also attempts to stir up sectarian resentment by referring to religious flags and slogans of Shiite fighters among Iraqi forces and by accusing other Sunni groups and politicians of treason.
The audio message could not be independently verified, though the speaker’s voice and style of delivery resembled previous Baghdadi recordings.
If authentic, the recording entitled “This is what God and his messenger have promised us”, would be Baghdadi’s first since December 2015 and a rare sign of life.
Rumours have swirled about the Iraqi leader’s health and movements but his whereabouts is unclear.
The recapture of Mosul could spell the end of the ISIL’s days as a landholding force in Iraq and deal a death blow to the “caliphate”.
Ludovico Carlino, an analyst with IHS Jane’s, said Baghdadi’s message suggested the group’s leadership “is increasingly concerned about defections and militants fleeing the battlefield”.
The US-led coalition supporting the Iraqi offensive estimates the number of ISIL fighters holed up in Mosul at 3,000 to 5,000 and has warned the battle for the city could be long and difficult.
Fighting inside the city will be complicated by the presence of more than a million civilians believed to be trapped there by ISIL, and who could be used as human shields by the extremists.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse