BICOM

The leaders of both ISIS and Hezbollah terror groups have warned that they are preparing to launch attacks against Israel.

In his first public comments in seven months, the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave a 23-minute address in which he claimed that “our state is doing well” despite the air strikes being launched against ISIS forces by both Russia and a US-led coalition including Royal Air Force jets.

Baghdadi also said that ISIS will turn its attention to Israel, warning that “We are getting closer to you [Israel] day by day… Do not think that we have forgotten about you.” He added, “Jews, you will not enjoy in Palestine. God has gathered you in Palestine so that the Mujahadeen can reach you soon and you will hide by the rock and the tree. Palestine will be your graveyard.” In an interview with a Saudi publication, Dore Gold, Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded to Baghdadi’s comments, saying “Israel knows how to defend itself.”

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot sent a similar message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who for the second time publicly vowed revenge against Israel for the killing of terrorist Samir Kuntar last week, who was killed in an air strike in Syria, thought to have been carried out by Israel. Kuntar perpetrated a notoriously brutal terror attack in northern Israel in 1979 and was thought to have been building a guerrilla terror network to attack Israel’s border with Syria.

Nasrallah said on Sunday that “The retaliation to Samir’s assassination will inevitably come.” His comments are the second such warning within a week. However, Eizenkot told soldiers at a prize-giving ceremony yesterday that “Even across our borders, in the face of the threats heard in the north, we stand ready for every challenge… Our enemies know that if they try to disturb the security of Israel — they will be faced with harsh results.”