Analysis: What the return of IS leader Baghdadi means

It appears from the video that the IS wants to continue the war it started irrespective of the setbacks it has suffered. Last time when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared in a video, the Islamic State (IS) was at the pinnacle of its glory. He was seen in the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, after the IS declared a new “Caliphate”. Almost five years later, he reappeared in another video, released by al-Furqan, part of the IS media cell, on April 29, at a time when the IS is practically on the run. In the 18-minute video, he was seen sitting…