Apparently in need of a low-cost, low-effort, low-commitment way to spread misery, ISIS is now urging its fanatics to kindle forest fires in the U.S. and Europe in the hope of causing ecological chaos in the wake of big but not unprecedented fires in California and Spain.
Several new posters from Quraysh, an Islamic State affiliate, have encouraged supporters to “ignite fires” as part of waging jihad.
“Ignite fires in the forests of America, France, Britain, and Germany, for they are painful to them,” the document released this week says. It was the fourth in a series tracked since April by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
After the death of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. operation in Syria last month, the jihad group is still seeking to inspire acts of random death and destruction abroad using social media.
Large forest fires that raged through California, Spain and Portugal over the summer may have inspired ISIS to try and take credit for some Western misery, or at least link some real destruction to their incessant propaganda.
The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April was touted as a victory, for example, and a curse upon followers of the Christian God.
Al-Baghdadi blew himself up, along with two of his children, during an Oct. 26 operation by American forces on a fortified compound in Idlib, northwestern Syria. The raid was a major setback for the already embattled group, which has lost territories it held in Syria and Iraq in a series of battles with the U.S-.led coalition and Syrian and Iraqi allies.
It’s time to rise up!
‘Arise, O LORD, and let Your enemies be scattered! Let them flee before You!’ ~ Numbers 10:35
