ISIL’s walls are crumbling around them

Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s first public statement in seven months reveals the group’s disarray

In a screengrab from an ISIL propaganda video, the group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi addresses militants in Mosul (AFP PHOTO / HO / AL-FURQAN MEDIA)

ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has lashed out against the West in his first statement to the outside world since May. In a rare 23 minute radio address, he delivered a defiant message to supporters that ISIL forces were confident in their abilities to expand their so-called caliphate and establish a foothold in Palestine.

He described the US-led anti-ISIL coalition’s attacks as merely fuelling ISIL’s anger. Yet his remarks have made clear that the reality is the exact opposite of what he is claiming – and that efforts to contain the growth of the extremist group are working.

With Iraqi troops preparing to retake Ramadi from ISIL control and the international community uniting to combat the extremist group’s reach, Al Baghdadi’s fledgling forces are in need of encouragement. Last week, rebel groups and Kurdish fighters captured a key dam on the Euphrates, cutting off a critical ISIL supply route. Al Baghdadi and the rest of the ISIL leadership have been forced to recycle the overused language of the crusades and the liberation of Palestine to appeal to new recruits and maintain a posture of control.

Throughout his address, Al Baghdadi painted himself as the leader of an Islamic state that was following a righteous path. He has consistently attempted to cast his actions in a religious light to justify the terrible actions of his militants. Even as ISIL loses ground in Syria and Iraq, the group’s leadership wraps itself in the words of religion. We have long known that ISIL represents nothing more than brutality and extremism. They have attempted in vain to co-opt religious language while discarding the central tenets of religious practice in an unending quest for power and control.

ISIL is being defeated on the battlefield, and its insidious twisting of Islam has been rejected by the very Muslims it pretends to support. The group’s leadership understands it is losing the propaganda battle and so has sought to appropriate the issue of Palestine. We must remain aware of their facile tactics in raising support and gathering attention.

We have seen a rare spirit of unity spread through the international community after ISIL’s attack in Paris. It is now upon us to maintain this unity in the face of ISIL’s divisive words, maintain the pressure against them and defeat them wherever they materialise once and for all.