ISIS
group vowed to intensify its fight against the US-led coalition and Kurds in
eastern Syria, in a video posted Sunday on its Telegram channel.
"The
fire of the battle between us and them has been reignited and will
intensify," the jihadist group said, addressing what it called
"soldiers of Islam" and residents of the caliphate.
ISIS
took swathes of oil-rich land in Iraq and Syria in a lightning 2014 offensive.
The
jihadists lost the last shred of their self-declared "caliphate" in
late March, when Syria's Kurds took the village of Baghhouz in Deir Ezzor
province with support from coalition air strikes.
But
ISIS retains sleeper cells and has orchestrated a series of car bomb and arson
attacks in eastern and northeastern Syria since its territorial defeat.
In
Sunday's video – the second since the fall of Baghouz – ISIS accused coalition countries of having entrapped its local adversaries,
including the Kurds.
"They
have been thrown into the flames of a fierce war that will leave them without
tail or head," ISIS warned.
The
video includes decapitations and the shooting to death at close range of people
presented as kidnapped Kurdish fighters.
ISIS
released a video in late April – shortly after claiming deadly attacks
in Sri Lanka – in which leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly
appeared, pledging vengeance and a "long battle" ahead.
A
US Defense Department report said this month that ISIS was
"resurging" in Syria, while it had "solidified its insurgent
capabilities in Iraq".