In an exclusive interview
with CNN, a Syrian ISIS fighter using the pseudonym Abu Talha said the
militant group has been preparing for such attacks.
"We've been ready for
this for some time," Abu Talha said. "We know that our bases are known
because they're tracking us with radars and satellites, so we had backup
locations."
He taunted the U.S.-led
coalition that has been pummeling ISIS targets in Syria over the past
week, including attacks on mobile oil refineries and vehicles.
"We have revenues other
than oil. We have other avenues, and our finances are not going to stop
just because of oil losses," the 28-year-old militant said.
"They thought they knew everything. But thank God, they don't know anything. And God willing, we will defeat the infidels."
Abu Talha said he was among the ISIS fighters who took over Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June.
He said even if coalition
attacks impede ISIS, they're not enough to stop ISIS' mission of
fortifying an Islamic state across Sunni parts of Syria and Iraq.
"They hit us in some
areas, and we advance in others," Abu Talha said. "If we are pushed back
in Iraq, we advance in northern Syria. These strikes cannot stop us,
our support or our fighters."
U.S. President Barack Obama admitted the quick rise of ISIS in Syria had been underrestimated at first.
In an interview that
aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Obama said the U.S. government
"underestimated what had been taking place in Syria" during its civil
war -- allowing the country to become "ground zero for jihadists around
the world."
Source:CNN
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