The early months of 2019 were challenging for Islamic State, as it lost its last territory, namely Baghouz in eastern Syria. Islamic State fought for this, their last bastion from the beginning of February 2019, eventually being defeated by Kurdish-led forces at the end of March 2019. A short time after it had lost its territory, its then leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared on a video with a message to the jihadist movements followers to state that Islamic State had not yet been defeated. His m
