New Speech by Islamic State Spokesman Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari: "By God this matter will be fulfilled"

Full Translation and Overview

On Thursday evening, the Islamic State’s al-Furqan Media released a new speech by spokesman Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari, intended to commemorate ten Islamic calendar years since the Islamic State’s announcement of the Caliphate. The following post presents a summary overview and a full translation of the speech. The main points of note are as follows:

. Much of the initial messaging is predictable about how the U.S. and its allies in the coalition against the Islamic State have failed to destroy the group despite all the effort made in the military campaign against it in Iraq and Syria. Whereas the key selling point was the territorial caliphate governing swaths of Iraq and Syria, now it is the expansion of the Islamic State affiliates across the world from East Asia to Mozambique. The speech’s ending is primarily a recapitulation of the theme of America’s inability to defeat the Islamic State, with a reiteration that the epic battle of Dabiq will eventually come and Islam will eventually prevail.

. There are typical counsels to its own fighters to be pious, remember God and be steadfast, remembering that with tribulation and difficulty, triumph will eventually come.