The Islamic State’s Sinai Wilayah (or “province”) days ago released a short video in which a small group of jihadists renewed their oath of fealty to Islamic State emir, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group was led by their ringleader identified as Abu Jafar al-Ansari. The defiant terror operative acknowledged of huge losses Islamic State has suffered in Iraq and Syria and pledged that he and his comrades will remain steadfast regardless of those losses.
Al-Ansari in the video even cites Quranic verse about holding fast in a view to implore fellow fighters to stay united and not to be divided. The same verse is commonly used by jihadist outfits to emphasize their supposed unity.
Al-Ansari’s speech is spiced with another brief footage of the group’s members fighting, training and carrying out terrorist attacks. Towards the end of the footage, al-Ansari then leads his unit (fighters) in a ceremonial renewal of their bay’ah (fealty or oath of allegiance) to Baghdadi.
The short video by Sinai Wilayah was released four days after a similar production was released by the Islamic State’s West Africa Wilayah reaffirming their oath of fealty to Baghdadi.
The two video footage are similar in several respects and are undoubtedly part of a coordinated campaign to show that the Islamic State remains a viable international force, despite the massive loss of its territory in the Middle East (Iraq and Syria).
