May 15, 2015 | Quote
ISIS Releases a Recording It Says Was Made by Its Leader
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The fact that such reports have remained in the news, along with other claims of setbacks, may have been enough to prompt the terrorist group to release the speech in an effort to avoid the appearance of a leadership crisis, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism expert and author of a book on Al Qaeda.
“It is almost certainly a signal to their ranks,” said Mr. Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who was in Florida to brief Defense Department officials on the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. “They understand that internal dissension and lack of internal messaging is a disadvantage.”
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The audio recording is not dated. However, a passing reference to the Saudi-led strikes in Yemen, known as Operation Decisive Storm, has led Mr. Gartenstein-Ross to posit that the message is several weeks old.
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