ISIS
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, alternatively translated as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, is a Salafi jihadist militant group that follows an Islamic fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. The group is also known as Daesh, which is an acronym derived from its Arabic name. Founder: : Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, 1999. ISIS proclaimed a worldwide caliphate in June 2014[36][37] and named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its caliph. As of December 2015, the group has control over vast landlocked territory in Iraq and Syria, with a population estimate ranging between 2.8 million[41] and 8 million people[42] and where it enforces its interpretation of sharia law. ISIL affiliates control small areas of Libya, Nigeria and Afghanistan and operate in other parts of the world, including North Africa and South Asia.

ISIS Video Purports to Show Leader Baghdadi in First Such Footage in Years

4/29/19
from The Wall Street Journal,
4/29/19:

In video released by extremist group, figure said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi praises Sri Lanka attackers.

Islamic State released a rare recorded video that purports to show its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, following the complete collapse of the extremist group’s self-declared caliphate last month when its last outpost in Syria was captured. In what would be the first known video footage of him in nearly five years, the 47-year-old terror group leader appeared with a graying beard as he urged his followers to fight on despite the setbacks and praised the Easter attacks undertaken by the “brothers in Sri Lanka.”

The Wall Street Journal couldn’t independently confirm that the figure in the video was Baghdadi. Army Col. James Rawlinson, a spokesman for the anti-Islamic State coalition, said U.S. officials were working to validate the video.

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