ISIL leader says Saudis will fail in Yemen

In the audio recording, Al-Baghdadi said that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, right, seen here with US President Barack Obama, was doing Washington’s bidding [Xinhua]

Self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has condemned the Saudi Arabian monarchy for its military operations in Yemen.

During a 33-minute audio recording, which comes on the heels of reports that he was either killed or wounded in recent US-led coalition air raids, Al-Baghdadi says that the Yemen war will conclude with the Saudis humiliated.

He said that ISIL forces would soon liberate their numbers incarcerated in Saudi jails.

During the audio recording, Al-Baghdadi criticized Saudi allies in the Persian Gulf and labeled them “apostate guard dogs” for US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, and its Arab allies, launched a campaign of aerial bombardment in Yemen following the fall of the capital Sanaa to Houthi rebels in March.

Al-Baghdadi also called on Sunnis in the Iraqi armed forces and police to join ISIL warning that if they are caught fighting on the side of “enemy” they will face punishment.

He praised Islamic militants who had recently pledged allegiance to ISIL in Yemen, Libya, Algeria and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, ISIL fighters appear to have reached the outskirts of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.

Historians have warned that ISIL fighters would likely level the UNESCO World Heritage site in much the same fashion as the destruction of Hatra and Nimrud in northern Iraq.

Palmyra is believed to be at least 2,200 years old and is one of the best preserved ancient cities in the Middle East.

The BRICS POST with inputs from Agencies