The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 21, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Baraka [Hasaka] province, Syria, released a new video featuring a French-speaking ISIS fighter praising the November 13 attacks in Paris and stating that the "lions of the Caliphate" in all European capitals are awaiting orders to carry out operations. The ISIS fighter delivering the message in French was previously featured in an ISIS video in October 2014[1], threatening France of retaliation for its involvement in the anti-ISIS coalition. The video titled "Blow Up France" was posted on ISIS-affiliated leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, hosted on Archive.org and distributed via Twitter.
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The video features archival footage from French TV showing the aftermath of the Paris attacks and images of the French military response. It also features several segments taken from previously released ISIS videos featuring French fighters warning France of attacks to come. Speaking in French, the ISIS fighter encourages the "brothers" to kill the infidels by all means possible, "poison them, kill them with knives, take their guns, enter their houses and behead and terrorize them."
The ISIS fighter in the video was featured in an October 2014 ISIS video threatening France.
The fighter adds: "Yes, we are terrorists. Regardless of what they say about us, we are terrorists, praise be to Allah." He encourages those who haven't been successful in their attempts to join the Caliphate to act like the Toulouse and Montauban shooter Mohamed Merah, the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and those who carried out the November 13 Paris attacks. "My message," he says, "is dedicated to the brothers in Europe and the entire world: Don't fear them. Terrorize them with any weapon you have be it explosive or anything... Go ahead with your car bombs, with your explosive belts, [and] bombs. Go ahead with any means to kill the enemies who are weak and we are strong."
Addressing the infidels in the world and French President Francois Hollande and his army, he states: "By Allah's name, the terror and the attacks in France will not stop as long as your airplanes fly in our skies. We have warned you before the events of Charlie Hebdo that we will attack with all means. The attacks which took place are a small compared with what are coming which will be greater than what you have endured."
The video features footage from western TV sources showing the aftermath of the 13/11 Paris attacks.
Calling France the number one enemy of ISIS, the head of the crusader army, the speaker justifies the 13/11 attack in Paris: "All that is because Francois Hollande has sent his army to fight the army of the Caliphate and to fight against Allah and his prophet. You will never live in peace in France and in any other country. We have warned you. We have brothers who are ready to blow up France and Europe. We have brothers with Kalashnikovs… Not one of you will live in peace as long as we don't live in peace."
Source: shamikh1.info, November 21, 2015.
[1] See MEMRI JTTM report French IS Fighter Threatens France With Retaliation: 'We Shall Call Upon All Of Our Brothers Who Reside In France To Kill Any Unbeliever There', October 14, 2014.
