French ISIS fighters call for terror at home
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group has released a video showing several French-speaking fighters calling on Muslims in France to launch a terror campaign at home.
The video, which according to the Guardian was released by ISIS’ media wing Al Hayat Media Department, shows a group of unmasked fighters around a fire in a wooded area, burning what appear to be their French passports.
One of the masked men can be heard saying: “We disbelieve in you and your passports, and if you come here we will fight you.”
France is a member of the international coalition fighting the militant group, although it has restricted its operation to Iraq, one of the two countries ISIS has managed to gain a foothold in. On Wednesday, Paris said it had increased the number of warplanes involved in the campaign.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says that “close to 50” French citizens have been killed fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria.
Around 1,000 French nationals are thought to have taken part in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, with 375 currently there, the government has said.
French ISIS fighters have been implicated in the recent beheading of a group of Syrians that the group posted in a video online.
According to the Guardian, one of the fighters in the video identified as Abu Osama al-Faranci castigates French Muslims for not emigrating to ISIS’ so-called state.
A second fighter identified as Abu Maryam al-Faranci says the “mujahideen” will not hesitate to chop the heads of the “enemies of Islam,” the daily reported.
“You will even fear travelling to the market,” he said.
Abu Salman al-Faranci, another fighter, suggests that those who cannot join ISIS abroad “should “operate within France.”
“Terrorize them and do not allow them to sleep due to fear and horror,” he added.
“Do whatever you can to humiliate them,” he said.
ISIS has released similar propaganda videos aimed at recruiting Muslims from different parts of the world, including Europe and Australia.
Earlier this week, French President Francois Hollande voiced concern about the phenomena of Westerners joining ISIS, which has proclaimed a “caliphate” stretching parts of Iraq and Syria, and slammed how the recruits had been “brainwashed.”
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