ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) has vowed to intensify its “reignited” fight against Kurdish forces and the US-led coalition in eastern Syria, in a video posted Sunday on its Telegram channel, amid warnings from Kurdish leaders in the country that they are being left vulnerable to the group's resurgence.
"The fire of the battle between us and them has been reignited and will intensify," AFP quoted the jihadist group as saying in the video, addressing what it called "soldiers of Islam" and residents of the caliphate.
The video includes decapitations and the shooting to death at close range of people presented as kidnapped Kurdish fighters, the press agency said.
Taking over swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, ISIS lost their last territorial holdout of Baghouz, northeastern Syria, to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in March of this year.
But ISIS has retained sleeper cells and has orchestrated a series of car bomb and arson attacks in eastern Syria and in Iraq since its territorial defeat. An August 7 car bombing in al-Qahtaniya in the northeast of Syria killed five civilians.
The video is the second released since the fall of Baghouz. A video in late April -- shortly after claiming deadly attacks in Sri Lanka -- pledged vengeance for ISIS territorial losses and a "long battle" ahead.
Sunday’s video also accused coalition countries of having left Kurdish forces exposed to future ISIS offensives.
"They have been thrown into the flames of a fierce war that will leave them without tail or head," ISIS warned according to AFP.
Kurdish leaders in Syria have been warning of ISIS resurgence in the wake of recent Turkish threats of a military offensive on Syria's East of Euphrates region.
Fears of incursion prevail despite a Wednesday US-Turkey deal for a joint operations center and “peace corridor” aiming to de-escalate tension between Turkey and the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria on Wednesday.
Turkey views the YPG, who form the backbone of the SDF, as a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought an often armed insurgency inside its territory for the past 35 years.
A Turkish offensive would divert SDF military capability from tackling ISIS sleeper cells, Badran Jia Kurd, adviser to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, told Reuters last week.
US President Donald Trump ordered the reduction of American force presence in Syria late last year, despite resistance from his own administration.
The decision has exacerbated SDF vulnerability by limiting the amount of training and expertise available for counter-ISIS forces in northern Syria, according to a Pentagon report published on August 2.
The report also warned of an ISIS resurgence in Iraq have also been made, with the group "rebuilding in remote territory, which is hard for Iraqi forces to secure,” and “able to recruit in these areas [Iraq’s northern and western provinces] using family and tribal connections.”
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Peshmerga Shoresh Ismail told journalists in Diyala on Sunday that ISIS militants are being given a “golden opportunity” to regroup due to security gaps in several parts of Iraq.
In Syria, the group has been able to recruit from al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, home to thousands of people who fled Baghouz and are living in “apocalyptic” conditions.
Initial reporting by AFP
.png&w=3840&q=75)
.png&w=3840&q=75)