“France was the beginning, tomorrow will be Washington, it will be New York, and it will be Moscow,” two English-speaking Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists declare in the first video message published by the terror organization since last night’s jihadist massacre in San Bernardino, California.
“Allah, he will revenge [sic],” a jihadist says in the video, speaking sitting down next to a colleague with an accent that indicates English is not his first language. “His revenge has started and the blood will flow,” he continues, warning the three aforementioned cities and issuing a specific threat to Russia. “You Russians, don’t you think that we forgot you… your time is coming and it will be the worst.”
The jihadist later proclaims that France has “seen the thunderous action of the lions” and that any who “violate” the rights of the Islamic State – and “it is a state,” he insists – “are bound to get burned.” He advises all non-Muslims to “start paying jizya, a punitive tax proscribed by Sharia law to non-Muslims, and “turn their hands” towards ISIS. In between his two short monologues, video shows two jihadists handing out candy to a small girl.
The video does not mention the San Bernardino attack, and appears to be intended to be a follow-up to the Islamic State video released Tuesday showing the graphic beheading of a man alleged to have been a Russian spy. Unlike that video, the usual pomp of Islamic State productions – bombastic theme music, an action-movie-style narrator – is missing in this latest video. Instead, a more mellow-sounding Islamic State jihadi song plays over the images of the girl receiving candy.
The “Russian spy” in the earlier video this week can be seen making threats to Russia, as well, and noting specifically that any attacks on Russia will be retribution for Vladimir Putin’s decision to conduct airstrikes against anti-Bashar al-Assad targets in Syria.
The Islamic State has previously taken credit for the downing of a Russian commercial airliner flying out of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in October.
While the video does not mention the San Bernardino shooting, law enforcement sources have confirmed with CBS News that it is believed the suspects in that shooting, which took the lives of 14 people, had been perusing Islamic State propaganda online, and used “ISIS tactics” in their massacre.
Islamic State supporters online, through the encrypted messaging app Telegram, have celebrated the shooting and debated among themselves whether the devout Muslim suspects were involved with the Islamic State.
ISIS propaganda has encouraged its followers to attack non-Muslims areas, particularly in Western nations, independently, rather than try to coordinate with Islamic State leaders in Syria and Iraq. The first such attack in the United States occurred in Garland, Texas this May, when two jihadis attempted to storm an art exhibition featuring portraits of Muhammad.
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