A propaganda video from the Islamic State shows that the terror group has the machinery in place to attract recruits from the West, mold them into assassins and then dispatch them back to Europe to commit mass murder, such as the carnage in Paris on Nov. 13.
The video posted on various social media platforms Sunday night is dedicated to the nine attackers who carried out the killings of some 130 victims in restaurants and a concert hall.
For 18 minutes, viewers of the Islamic State video see some of the men as fighters in Syria and Iraq, killing prisoners by beheadings and gunfire.
The video by Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, also shows photos of British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande, with a target imprinted around their heads.
“Air strikes in Sham,” says the graphic, a reference to British and French participation in bombing Islamic State positions in the jihadis’ base in Syria.
The image of a terrorists beheading a prisoner states, “Kill them wherever you find them,” the video’s title.
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The opening images “suggest that ISIS fighters were using the data-encryption software PGP for secure communications,” says an analysis by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “The overall message of the video aims to show the determination and the power of ISIS, which is portrayed as being able to prepare and strike at will in the heart of their enemies’ territory.
The first Paris attacker to appear is Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the massacre’s ringleader. He appears to be speaking from Europe. A Photoshop image shows all nine, with their names. Abaaoud’s image hovers over the rest.
“Then, seven fighters dressed in identical battle fatigues deliver a message before performing beheadings on camera somewhere in Syria or Iraq,” MEMRI says. “The last fighter, identified as Brahim Abdeslam, is seen at target practice in an undisclosed location, and does not deliver a message. This shooting range is likely to have been set up somewhere in Europe as well.”
The Islamic State’s media group, Al-Hayat Media Center, released the video.
It begins, “The following are the final messages of the nine lions of the Caliphate, who were mobilized from their dens to bring an entire country — France — to her knees. They raised the word of [monotheism] and lived the verses of the Quran by killing the infidels wherever they found them. And they continued to do so until the thirst for their own success was quenched with nothing other than their own blood.”
MEMRI’s analysts said the tries to drive home two central points.
“First, the fighters deliver a threat to their enemies, members of the coalition and all those ISIS considers to be disbelievers. They insist that the West will not know peace so long as they continue to fight and attack ISIS, suggesting that the Islamic State is only retaliating.
“Second, the fighters address Muslims living in the West, calling upon them to carry out attacks or join the ISIS jihad. The messages delivered by the operatives do not mention any details about planned attacks.”
The video’s release came as Europe’s top agency issued a new warning Monday that the Islamic State would likely try to replicate the success of the Paris attacks with new strikes against so-called soft targets in the West.
The Europol agency issued a bulletin saying that “there is every reason to expect that IS, IS-inspired terrorists or another religiously inspired terrorist group will undertake a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe again, but particularly in France, intended to cause mass casualties among the civilian population.”
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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