ISIS’ plans to attack the West couldn’t be more crystal clear, yet the Obama regime claims they are not as dangerous as “core” al-Qaeda hiding in Pakistan. One of their members already carried out a deadly terror attack on a Jewish museum in France.
Via Free Beacon:
Al Qaeda’s ultra-extremist Syrian offshoot known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is stepping up efforts to recruit Americans and other westerners for jihad in Syria and possibly for future domestic terror attacks, according to U.S. officials.
A new media outlet affiliated with ISIL recently began producing recruiting materials in both English and German that U.S. intelligence analysts say is a sign they are targeting western jihadists for recruitment.
It is the first time ISIL, one of the most prominent ultra-violent jihadists among Syria rebels groups, has set up a western-oriented media arm.
ISIL also is leading the major military operations now under way in Iran that has produced the group’s take over of several Iraqi cities, including Mosul, the second largest.
According to U.S. officials, the new media outlet is called the Al Hayat Media Center that is under the authority of the ISIL’s official propaganda arm, the Al-Itisam Establishment for Media Production.
Recent ISIL recruitment products include English-language videos, pamphlets, and a magazine.
Analysts say the products appear to have been produced by competent English speakers and are devoid of spelling and grammatical errors, while including Arabic phrases and words.
Patrick Poole, a counterterrorism analyst, said ISIL’s media arm has made a major push over the past month to produce material targeting potential western recruits.
The ISIL appears to be copying a similar propaganda and recruitment model used by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, he said in an email.
“We know from recent reports that their recruiting efforts in the U.S. have been successful, with at least 15 Somalis from the Minneapolis area leaving to fight jihad in Syria, some fighting with ISIL itself,” Poole said.
“With as many as 70 Americans fighting with Syrian jihadist groups, and thousands of westerners, counterterrorism authorities have been rightfully worried,” he added. “Now that we have known cases of Americans fighting with ISIL, that is considered even too extreme for al Qaeda, and ongoing recruitment inside the U.S., we’re only going to see the potential domestic terror blowback from the Syrian jihad grow even more.”