Al-Baghdadi makes himself heard

amsterdam - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been heard for the first time in almost a year. At least, the 'news agency' of Islamic State, Al-Furqan, has distributed an audio message, which would be from the IS leader.

Al-Baghdadi must acknowledge in the message that IS has lost large parts of its territory: 'For jihadis, the size of victory or loss does not depend on a place or city that is stolen, or who is airborne, intercontinental missiles or smart bombs. has. '

If the man in the recording is actually al-Baghdadi, that would be a refusal of reports that the IS leader was killed or seriously injured in bombing. Rumors about that have been circulating for a long time, not least because the self-appointed caliph had not heard anything for eleven months.

The Islamic State has completely collapsed and actually only controls territory on the border between Syria and Iraq.