Islamic State’s self-declared “emir” of Mosul says his fighters have no fear of American air strikes and that the world has so far seen just a fraction of the extremist group’s military strength.
Haji Othman, who identifies himself as one of the leaders of the “Islamic caliphate of Mosul”, warned that Christians in northern Iraq must convert to Islam, pay a tax as “non-believers” or face certain death.
Islamic State has made rapid advances in Iraq and is tightening its grip on Syria, where the group now controls around a third of the country.
They have successfully taken on the Syrian army, Kurdish militias and Sunni Muslim tribal forces but bigger military operations are to follow, Haji Othman told Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s leading dailies.
“This is nothing. We’re just at the beginning. Up until now we’ve used just a small part of the forces that we have at our disposition. You cannot imagine how strong we really are. We have immense power. You’ll be amazed. You won’t be able to defeat us,” he told the newspaper, during a telephone conversation by mobile phone. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, August 11, 2014
