Terror threat

Real Voices from the Caliphate Talk Back to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

“You hear rumors, like the leader [of ISIS] is in Turkey. What the heck? Why would he be in Turkey if he called everyone to the Islamic State, you know? What kind of ruler is ruling his people outside of his country? And then we heard rumors that he’s not there. We heard rumors that he was sick, basically that he was not in power at all. We didn’t even know what to expect. Is this guy even legit? Like did he just record himself once and then he just disappeared? We don’t know.”  These are the words of Hoda Muthana, an American-born ISIS wife who traveled from Alabama to Syria to live under the group in 2014, ultimately spending 5 years living under ISIS rule.  She spoke to ICSVE in researchers in Camp Roj, Syria, in April 2019, where she is being detained as a former ISIS bride by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).Despite her wondering, along with many others in the world, about his whereabouts,  Abu Bakr al Baghdadi resurfaced last week in an ISIS released video entitled “ In the Hospitality of the Emir of the Believers.” In the 18-minute video, Baghdadi is featured seated alongside three other, presumably ISIS members, whose faces are blurred. Although the video remains yet to be authenticated, this would be his second public appearance since his well-known speech from the pulpit of the Great Mosque in Mosul in the summer of 2014. The last voice recording of him emerged almost a year after the Iraqi government announced the defeat of ISIS in Iraq. This paper presents statements by now imprisoned and defected ISIS cadres about the ISIS leadership and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi himself.