Pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media groups recently launched a media campaign titled "Support [for ISIS] is Ribat [Guarding at the Frontline] and Jihad," encouraging supporters to remain committed to their online activities spreading ISIS propaganda and defending its ideology. Since the campaign's start several days ago, more than a dozen posters have been published by a half-dozen semi-official media groups, featuring quotations from archival ISIS sources and original text praising media operatives supporters for their online activity, calling it a form of jihad as important as that of ISIS fighters, and urging them to remain steadfast in the face of repeated deletions of their accounts.
Following is a survey of some of the posters that have been released so far as part of the campaign:
ISIS's official English-language media outlet released a poster announcing a media campaign. The group noted that the campaign is "in response to the continuous attempts by the kuffar [unbelievers] and murtaddin [apostates] to delete our accounts on Telegram and other platforms," and urged supporters to promote the campaign on as many platforms as possible, to "show our enemies that the Islamic State is Baqiya wa Tatamadad Bi-ithnillah [remaining and expanding, Allah willing.]" The poster asked supporters who wish to participate in the campaign or be added to its channels to contact its Telegram bot.
A message was posted on Telegram in the name of the pro-ISIS At-Taqwa Foundation, dated June 5, 2023 but apparently first posted several days earlier, urging supporters to participate in a new campaign "on all social media platforms." The media group urged supporters to republish archival content by official and unofficial media groups related to the topic, mentioning the publication "You are a Mujahid, O Media Operative," and editorials published in ISIS's weekly magazine, Al-Naba'. At-Taqwa also advised supporters to send in their ideas, articles, and quotations, for the media group to consider for poster adaptation to be published in the campaign.
On June 3, an outlet released a poster titled "The Enemy's Failure to Stop the Mujahideen's Media," which quotes from Issue 210 of Al-Naba', claiming that ISIS enemies have tried for years to "destroy the media apparatus of the Islamic State" by bombing its headquarters, defaming its ideology, and criminalizing the dissemination and viewing of its propaganda. The quote from the ISIS weekly also notes that the organization's adversaries have attempted to "restrict the activity of the supporters who expend great effort to disseminate the mujahideen's media content" on the internet, but failed, due to supporters' "great numbers – praise to Allah – and their dispersal throughout the world," making a widescale campaign against media supporters "close to impossible."
Another poster by the outlet, released on June 6 and titled "The Effect of Inciting Jihad," also quotes from Al-Naba' 305. Depicting a hooded media operative with four computer screens open in front of him, as well as a large poster depicting the aftermath of terrorist attacks in various European cities, the poster asserts that media jihad is no less effective than that military activity, as incitement in the media was behind "many qualitative operations which struck the home of the crusaders in recent years." The Al-Naba' quote accordingly urges online supporters to make such incitement a priority, as they can never know the effect their actions may have, until they are able to travel to ISIS territory and wage jihad themselves.
A June 6 poster is titled "The Media War: Motives and Measures." The poster's text asserts that the infidels are engaged in a doomed campaign to silence the "voice of Islam" by combating official and unofficial ISIS media, and provides guidance for media operatives to resist the deletion of their accounts. It offers four tips, including: "Secure your communications outside the platforms from which you are deleted, so you can come back stronger," and: "If they delete one of your accounts, start 30 others." The poster further urges online supporters to engage in acts of worship and pray for success; remember that their purpose is to defend Islam; treat those they interact with kindly; and always seek to increase their religious and secular knowledge.
A June 9 poster depicts an armed ISIS fighter raising the organization's banner, next to a typewriter holding a sheet of paper with the poster's title, "The Islamic State's Praise for the Supporters and Their Media Foundations." The poster quotes from a January 2020 speech by slain ISIS spokesman Abu Hamzah Al-Qurashi, in which he praised "the caliphate's supporters and their media foundations" for swearing allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi and defending the organization against accusations.
A June 10 poster is titled "The Best Supporters of the Best Soldiers." Depicting a group of ISIS fighters above a hooded supporter holding a mobile phone, it praises ISIS media operatives, asserting that their "weapon of media" is a "strong weapon which affects the enemies of the Islamic State," who have tried to eliminate them but been frustrated by their steadfastness.
Another poster released the same day depicts an armed ISIS fighter at the top of the poster and a camera at the bottom. Titled "The Mujahideen's Media is a Source of Sleeplessness and Strain for the Unbelievers and Apostates," the poster quotes from Al-Naba' Issue 210, published in November 2019, which declared that the mujahideen's media has vexed the infidel intelligence agencies for two decades, as they have failed to silence it.
A poster also released that day was titled "Ribat and Jihad." Depicting hands typing on a computer keyboard, on whose screen a masked operative can be seen holding a camera and raising his index finger, the poster declares that the purpose of supporting ISIS online is not to "fill leisure time and pass the time with arguments" but is an act of worship. It urges supporters to remember the purpose of their activity "every time you take your device in your hand."
The poster "An Ongoing War" depicts a hooded supporter at a keyboard, as mujahideen fire weapons above, it asserts that the war between faith and unbelief continues both in the military and media arenas, and urges media supporters not to be discouraged and to realize that they are defending Islam against infidels who seek to turn all Muslims away from their religion.
The poster "And What increases Your Pain and Sorrow" states that ISIS media operatives prowl through the unbelievers' websites and social media platforms, just as "the lions of the caliphate prowl through your lands with silenced weapons and cutting swords!"
The poster "Victorious in Every Arena, Allah Willing," acknowledges that ISIS's enemies have managed to delete a huge number of accounts, but claims that there is not "a single battle in which you were victorious over us!"
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