The security expert told TalkRADIO he believes the ISIS leader released the video to send the “clear message” the group will continue to terrorise the world despite the total loss of their territories in Syria. Dr Stott analysed the video, pointing out Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi praised those who continued to carry out terrorist attacks around the world in the name of the Islamic State. He said: “I wouldn’t say this is just another video, I think this is much more significant than that.
“This is the first definite live sighting we’ve had of Al-Baghdadi since July 2014 when he declared he was the leader of the world’s Muslims.
“And now he was very much sort of back to business, pictured with a rifle next to him, briefing or receiving briefings from some fellow members of his group, looking at reports.
“And so I think what he’s ought to do here is really to send a message out that despite the territorial loss the Islamic State has had, the struggle goes on.
“Another think Al-Baghdadi does in this video is praise the people who fought in Baghouz which was the last bit of territory they had in Syria.
“But he also praises the response of those who carried out attacks globally since the loss of Islamic State’s final bit of territory.
“We’re talking here about over 290 attacks in eight different countries.
“Sri-Lanka being the most dramatic, so they are certainly not defeated. They’re simply in a different phase of that struggle and if anything we’re back to where we were in 2013-2014 before they held all that territory.”
Dr Stott also pointed out the ISIS leader praised the fact that many of those killed in the recent Sri-Lanka attacks were Americans and Europeans, renewing his mission to disrupt western cultures.
The security expert said: “When Al-Baghdadi is looking at the reports from his officials, he’s also talking about the group that they have in Libya, in the Sahara, he mentions the protests that have been announced in Algeria and Sudan saying they’re useless unless they turn into Jihad.
“He also praises the fact that many of those killed in Sri-Lanka were Americans and Europeans.
“So I think the intentions are pretty clear. At one point he talks about Jihadi coming until the day of judgment.
“So there is certainly no way these guys are going to be stepping back.”
The fate of the elusive leader of the violent jihadist group had been called into question many times over the last few years after numerous reports of his death in the Battle of Mosul in 2017.
The new footage is not dated but Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, ISIS’s final bastion in eastern Syria, which ended last month.
He said “the battle for Baghouz is over” as he sat on a cushion against a bare wall with a rifle propped up behind him.