In its latest video posted on YouTube, the Islamic State (ISIS) militants show off their trenches, tunnels and bomb shelters that the group uses to keep its fighters safe during US-led air attacks.
The new ISIS video released by the group on social media reportedly shows an underground tunnel built by the ISIS militants in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Several fighters are shown stealthily sneaking out its bomb shelters after an air attack via a complex network of tunnels and trenches. The militants boasting about the 'Allah's protection on them' claimed that the tunnels and trenches are also used as "supply routes to all squads and HQs in the battle arenas."
This not only keeps the group safe but also keeps the flow of food, aide and ammunition going, an ISIS militant says in the video.
The new ISIS video, which was posted by an official media arm of the group also shows several members digging trenches in other locations as well.
The ISIS fighters in the video explaining the process of building the tunnel says that the group deliberately keeps the tunnel curved to lessen the chances of shrapnel injury. The ISIS fighter in the video then says that "..these trenches allowed us to give up our houses," and now they are "our break rooms and bedrooms."
Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Global Partners, which authenticated the videotape, told NBC, "The video... is an effort to portray a sense of resilience in the face of U.S. and coalition air strikes, which have impacted the tempo of the conflict inside Iraq."
"ISIS wants its supporters to know that even in the midst of American air superiority, it can nonetheless still operate and fight effectively on the battlefield."
The new ISIS video comes at a time when U.S. air strikes reportedly destroyed an Islamic State convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul injuring the top ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Several top ISIS leaders including a close aide of al-Badghdadi was killed in the air attack.
Since Monday, the US-led forces have conducted 16 air raids in Syria, mostly targeting ISIS in Kobane near the Turkish border, and seven air strikes in the oil-producing northern region of Iraq.
