CNN: ISIS Leader Appears in Video for First Time in 5 Years

EXCERPT:

KEILAR: “ISIS has released a video purported to be of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and he has not been seen for five years, since 2014. We have Clarissa Ward with me from London, and Barbara Starr is with us at the Pentagon. I want to start with you, Clarissa. Tell us about this video and how we know that this is something that’s timely?"
WARD: "Well, we know it’s timely because there are references to the recent battle of Baghuz, that was the vicious, protracted battle that took place in Syria near the Iraqi border to essentially completely crush the caliphate, but Al Baghdadi also mentions in this video the attack on Sri Lanka. That, of course, was just over a week ago. It’s not clear though, Brianna, whether the video was potentially made in different chunks. There are a couple of cuts in the video where the audio quality changes, potentially indicating that perhaps this was shot or filmed over a series of different episodes.”