In a new audio message posted online, the group's spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani attempted to keep morale high among supporters following recent defeats in key city strongholds across Iraq and Syria.
He also called for attacks during Ramadan, which starts in early June this year, an appeal he made at the same time last year when urging supporters to seek 'martyrdom'.
The recording - titled 'That They Live By Proof' - was directed at both Jews and Christians, and
spoke of the terror network's plans to take over the world
Adnani said:
'Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready...to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers...especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America.
'The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night.
'Will we be defeated if we lose Mosul, or Sirte, or Raqa, or all the cities, and go back to how we were before?
'No. Defeat is only losing the desire and the will to fight.'
The 31-minute recording - posted late on Saturday night - was Adnani's first speech since October.
It made no reference to the downing of EgyptAir flight MS804.
Al-Adnani is considered the terror network's most prominent public figure in Iraq, having made several audio messages in the past.
He is held in the same bracket of notoriety as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and has been suggested as the jihadists' next leader should Baghdadi lose his position.
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