The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 26, 2016, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Raqqah province in Syria released a video featuring a French fighter named Abu Sulayman Al-Firansi urging Muslims living in France to carry out attacks and demonstrating stabbing techniques on a man accused of being an agent for the "crusader's coalition.
The 29-minute video, which is titled "You Must Fight Them, Oh Muwwahid i.e Monotheist" and posted on pro-ISIS channels on Telegram, also featured another ISIS fighter named Abu Al-Nour Al-Shami providing step-by-step instructions on bomb making using "simple materials."
Addressing Muslims living in France, the French fighter, who was wearing a mask and was introduced as a 'trainer,' said: "You see today the result of the bombardment by the Coalition which is led by America, Britain, and France. These strikes kill women, men, children, the old, and the sick without discrimination. They closed the door of hijra [emigration] on you, so open the door of jihad on them. Some brothers have preceded you by conducting operations."
Al-Firansi, who was speaking in French, reminded the Muslims that Allah has ordered them to fight the infidels and encouraged them to carry out attacks using knives. He further provided tips regarding the types of knives which should be used, saying that it is not necessary to use "commandos" knives and that a sturdy and long one would suffice. He also displayed an "electrician's knife"; however, he recommended using kitchen knives which are "sharp and not too long or too small."
He then demonstrated on a man who was tied up inside a destroyed building, instructing which body parts an attacker should strike with his knives. Holding the man's throat, he said: "Fist, [attack] the throat by slicing or stabbing. Second, the chest which is often targeted," but he said it is better to hit soft body parts like the abdomen as they are "easy to stab and cut." "Lastly," he said "there is the lower body: the thigh arteries can be stabbed and cut, then left to bleed out."
He then pointed to fatal spots in the human body once they are cut with knives, saying: "On the arm, the artery can be cut at three places: the wrist, inner elbow and armpit.” He then handed a knife to another masked man who cut the accused spy's wrist, stabbed him in his neck, and sliced his abdomen.
Standing in front of the body of the accused spy who was described as an "agent of the Crusader coalition," Al-Firansi addressed the Muslims living in France, saying: "You have a complete explanation on places to strike on the body. Now you must act. The kuffar [infidels] fight us and you for our religion. So kill them. France's history is up to you. "
The trainer, along with another fighter, then demonstrated multiple attacking and stabbing techniques, including one in which the attacker would pretend to be asking for directions and hand a card or a piece of paper to their victims before striking them.
The video also featured Abu Muhammad Al-Muhajir, a masked fighter who spoke in English with a thick accent, urging Muslims to carry out attacks and avenge the killing and imprisonment of Muslim men and women.
The video then featured Abu Al-Nour Al-Shami, who provided detailed instruction on how to make explosives in one's kitchen using acetone peroxide, hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, acetone, ice, water, a thermometer, and a syringe. After showing how these substances can be used to make explosive materials, Al-Shami showed how detonators are made using bulbs, batteries, a matchbox and sandpaper, aluminum, a pen, tape, scissors and the explosive materials which he made earlier. Al-Shami then explained how the bomb is made with shrapnel, which he said if not available can be replaces by nails and bolts.
The video then showed a young man named Abd Isma'il Muhammad admitting to working with two people from Kurdistan's anti-terrorism department. The young man was shown running barefoot in a desert-like area before the bomb he was carrying in a backpack was remotely detonated, cutting his body into two.
Addressing the monotheists all over the world, the video ended with a scene of man doing push-ups and strapping a suicide vest to his body, with the narrator saying: "Support and defend your brothers while you are behind enemy line. From their lands the wars are funded and managed. So send upon them ruin and destruction. If you offer yourself to Allah, then Al-Firdaws paradise is, by Allah permission, your eternal abode, and what an excellent abode."
