The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On September 23, 2014, the U.S. and its allies targeted the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat Al- Nusra (JN) strongholds in Al-Raqqa and Idlib, Syria. In reaction, IS and JN members and their online supporters virulently condemned the attacks and threatened retaliation against the West.
Below is a sample of the responses to the coalition's airstrikes inside Syria:
On September 22, 2014, prominent IS supporter Shaibat Al-Hamad (@shaibat_6) called for IS supporters in Qatar and the UAE to kill any westerners in their countries. He also mocked the two "midget" countries for getting involved in the war against the IS.
"Even midgets have a word [now]! Qatar and [the United Arab] Emirates participate in the war [against the IS]," wrote Al-Hamad.
In the same Tweet, he added: "O Qatari and Emirati Muslims, slaughter any unbelieving westerner in your country, and I guarantee you they [Qatar and the UEA] will run away from the coalition."
Abu Al-'Ainaa' Al-Khurasani (@abo_alainaa), another prominent voice in the jihadi movement, tweeted on September 23, 2014: "Woe upon America, and woe upon its people, and woe upon you Arab rulers, feel your throats, [and] say farewell to your thrones..."
A user who calls himself Ibn Ahmad wrote on Facebook: "The Islamic State opened the gates of Hell to the Kufar with shaykh [Abu Muhammad Al-]Adnani's speech... As I said some weeks ago, the West will see attacks in their homes worse than Al Qaeda's terror, bi idnillah [God willing]. They dared to bomb innocent people in Dawlah [the IS] so hell is open for [th]em.."
On September 22, 2014, Irish IS supporter Khalid Kelley (@abuusama1) threatened with attacks inside Europe: "By USA UK France bombing killing us as we speak in Syria [and] Iraq they have just brought the war home 2 Europe don't complain when ur attacked."
Israfil Yilmaz (@chechclearr), a Dutch national apparently fighting in the ranks of the IS, tweeted on September 23, 2014: "Like cowards from the sky. This is like ive said before not just a war on State, but a war on Islam, a war on the Muslims of Syria and Iraq." In another series of tweets, Yilmaz also lamented the death of JN fighter Abu Yusuf Al-Turki, who, he said, was among the first to be killed in the airstrikes. In yet another tweet, he called Obama a liar and said: "Wallahi [By Allah] the anger in my heart. May the hands of Obama the liar be ruined, and ruined is he..."
