ISIS call on lone wolves to avenge killing of top lieutenant : Gilad Shiloach
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/08/31/isis-call-on-lone-wolves-to-avenge-killing-of-top-lieutenant/21462974/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl36%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D-334083897_htmlws-main-bb
ISIS channels on Telegram are spreading a call Wednesday for the “general mobilization” of lone wolf actors across Arab and Western countries, urging them to take revenge for the killing of senior leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in an apparent U.S strike in Syria a day earlier.
The terror group made the announcement late Tuesday that its official spokesman and one of its top commanders was killed “while surveying operations to repel the military campaign against Aleppo.” A U.S. defense official told Reuters that the United States targeted Adnani in a strike on a vehicle traveling in the Syrian town of al-Bab near Aleppo, but did not confirm that Adnani was killed in the hit.
Vocativ tracked dozens of Telegram channels used by ISIS supporters and found the call for lone wolves circulating after the news broke of Adnani’s death. “Deliver this message to all the supporters,” the message said, telling them that rather than cry for Adnani’s passing, to “remember his words: commit jihad, even by knife, make it the greatest attack across Crusader and Arab countries. For every believer, now it’s time to fight. Let the Crusaders and apostates see Adnani’s words in your acts. Now it’s time to fight.”
The messages likely refer to Adnani’s most recent speech in May this year, in which he called upon “soldiers and supporters of the Caliphate in Europe and America” to attack civilians in their hometowns. The speech preceded a deadly wave of attacks carried out by ISIS supporters in Orlando, Magnanville, Nice,Wuerzburg, Ansbach and Normandy.
Another message posted on ISIS message forums pressed the urgency to motivate followers into action. “We are in need of motivation. Motivate the lone wolves to start taking revenge. Concentrate on the motivation and postpone the mourning, this is a time of war.”
The messages reflect similar warnings that ISIS supporters posted on Twitter accompanied with the hashtag denoting Adnani’s death saying “just wait for the lone wolves, wait for the response, wait for the revenge.”
Adnani, born Taha Subhi Falaha in Syria’s Idlib Province in 1977, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq. The New York Times claims he was also in charge of ISIS’ external operations and was responsible for recruiting operatives worldwide and planning terror attacks in cities including Paris, Brussels, and Bangladesh. There was a $5 million reward on his head under the U.S. “Rewards for Justice” program.
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