The Islamic State’s media wing has released a video calling for supporters in the United States to commit acts of arson.
The 4-minute video, which was released over the weekend, was produced in both Arabic and English and features high-end video editing, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Center’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor.
The narrator speaks about how ISIS supporters should fight “fire with fire” and includes an image of a military-style rifle while discussing how some would-be terrorists don’t have access to certain weapons. Instead, the narrator advocates for arson attacks and highlights the devastating effect that fires have had recently in places such as Australia, Greece, and the U.S.
“To become more convinced of this option, try looking at the fires in the lands of the crusaders every year. Fires in forests and fields, cities and villages completely destroyed, people displaced, armies of firefighters and civil defense personnel working continuously days to no avail,” the narrator says. He also instructs terrorists to be careful to dispose of incriminating evidence.
Although ISIS’s territorial caliphate has dissolved, the terrorist group still has affiliates around the globe. Islamic State West Africa Province, which operates in Nigeria, Chad, and neighboring countries, recently executed four aid workers from two international organizations.
ISIS has also committed atrocities in Afghanistan through its Khorasan Province branch. ISKP is thought to be behind a horrific attack on a maternity ward that resulted in the deaths of mothers and children. ISKP has been fighting both the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Last year, the U.S. scored a major victory when ISIS’s then-leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was killed in October during a Delta Force operation. In June, the State Department announced that it was offering $10 million for information about the location or identity of ISIS leader Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahma al Mawla, up from its previous offer of $5 million.