The militant group ISIS has released a message calling on its supporters to rise up once more, as the US-led coalition closes in on the group’s final stronghold in Baghuz city, near Syria’s border with Iraq.
In a video recently posted on social media, a militant who identifies himself as Abu Abdul-Azim said that ISIS may seem to have been defeated by the "standards of this world," AP reported. "If we used to hold thousands of kilometers and now only a few kilometers
Cracks of rifle fire can be heard in the video, which shows images assumed to be in the city of Baghuz, a town on the Euphrates River that was once home to roughly 10,000 people. "What is our crime? Why are we bombarded by warplanes? Why has the entire world of infidels come together to fight us?… It is because we wanted to implement God's law,” Abdul-Azim wonders.
"There is no group in the world that ruled by the Quran and Sunna except this select group," he continues, according to AP. "That is victory… So we are patient. Victory and endurance
Another speaker was featured in a different audio recording posted on Monday.
He called on ISIS supporters to "rise against the crusaders and… take revenge for your religion," claiming the group is being subjected to a "holocaust" by the US-led coalition, according to AP.
Thousands of ISIS militants are believed to have filtered their way out of the warzone by hiding among the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the battle.