ISIS vows to attack Washington, D.C. in new video
Following Friday's terror attacks in Paris, which killed 132 people, and France's bombing of targets of Syria on Sunday in retaliation, ISIS made threats against other nations that have participated in airstrikes against the caliphate, suggesting that Russia as well as Rome, London, and Washington, D.C. are at risk. On Monday, those threats became even more specific in a video, Reuters reports.
"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," a man in the video said. The footage was released just hours after U.S. planes bombed oil trucks in Syria.
While Reuters has been unable to verify the authenticity of the video, it was posted on a website where ISIS commonly promotes its messages.
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The speaker in the video, who is identified as "Al Ghareed the Algerian," also threatened Europe. "I say to the European countries that we are coming, coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and [gun] silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before," he says. A second man, "Al Karrar the Iraqi," addresses French President Francois Hollande: "We have decided to negotiate with you in the trenches and not in the hotels."
According to Reuters, the video alleges authorship by ISIS fighters in the Iraqi province of Salahuddine, to the north of Baghdad.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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