US aircraft returns after bombing mission aga
US aircraft returns after bombing mission agaReuters

As the US-led air campaign against the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria continues, on the ground ISIS fighters are learning to adapt, and striking a defiant message.

ISIS has been eagerly uploading footage of interviews with its fighters saying they remain unfazed by the bombing - and vowing revenge against the US.

The footage, compiled and translated by MEMRI, was taken in ISIS's de-facto capital of Raqqa, in northern Syria. It includes statements including "Allah willing, America will meet its end in the land of the Levant," with another terrorist promising: "This will spell their annihilation."

The airstrikes have had varying degrees of success; in Iraq, where most strikes have taken place, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have succeeded in pushing back ISIS from some of the areas it seized over the summer thanks to the air support provided by US and European states.

In Syria however, where most of ISIS's strongholds are based, the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) is still struggling to fend off a concerted attack on the embattled town of Kobane on the border with Turkey, and say airstrikes by the US and its Arab allies are having little discernible effect.

Jihadi fighters are reportedly taking a series of measures to stay out of the crosshairs. ISIS forces have dispersed as much as possible - often among the local civilian population - and the groups has also ordered its members not to post "irresponsible" or unnecessary messages onto social media which could give away their positions.