ISIS is afraid of Israel, not US, Russia, France and UK

Although a host of nations are pounding the militants from the air and covertly on the ground with elite soldiers, Islamic State fighters have one nation they truly fear.

ISIS militants only truly fear one of the nations that opposes it, according to a journalist who spent time living among them.

Although Russia, France, the UK, the US and a host of other nations are pounding the militants from the air and covertly on the ground with elite soldiers, Islamic State fighters told Jürgen Todenhöfer, 75, that Israel is the one nation they are wary of.

Mr Todenhöfer, who spent 10 days in Syria in 2014, told Jewish News: “They think they can defeat US and UK ground troops, who they say they have no experience in city guerrilla or terrorist strategies.

“But they know the Israelis are very tough as far as fighting against guerrillas and terrorists.

“They are not scared of the British and the Americans, they are scared of the Israelis and told me the Israeli army is the real danger.”

ISIS has suffered a number of setbacks recently. Yesterday Iraqi government forces announced they had retaken the city of Ramadi.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “This is the latest in a series of significant losses for Daesh (a derogatory term for ISIS) .

“These barbaric terrorists have lost 30% of the territory they once held in Iraq.

“They have been driven out of cities across the country by Iraqi forces, with support from the UK and the Global Coalition.

But a new message purporting to come from the leader of Islamic State said air strikes had failed to weaken the group.

“Be confident that God will grant victory to those who worship him, and hear the good news that our state is doing well. The more intense the war against it, the purer it becomes and the tougher it gets,” said the audio recording, described as by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The authenticity of the message, posted on Saturday on Twitter accounts that have published Islamic State statements in the past, could not be verified.

It slammed Saudi Arabia’s efforts to set up a coalition of Muslim nations to fight his group.

“If it was an Islamic coalition, it would have declared itself free from its Jewish and Crusader lords and made the killing the Jews and the liberation of Palestine its goal,” the message said.