The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On April 25, 2019, the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet Al-Abd Al-Faqir published a video titled "And It Will Not Be The Last Surprise,"[1] praising the April 21 Sri Lanka attacks and presenting them as retribution for attacks against Muslims everywhere. The slickly edited five-minute video combines archive footage from ISIS videos and Western and Arabic media coverage of the Sri Lanka attacks, which ISIS had previously claimed.[2] The video's message is similar to that expressed by ISIS itself in its weekly newspaper Al-Naba', also released on April 25.[3]
The video portrays the Sri Lanka attacks as ISIS's retribution for attacks against Muslims around the world, including the March 2019 terror attack on the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Fast-moving frames play footage of attacks against Muslims in Syria, fighter jets, wounded children, and footage from the New Zealand attack. The video notes: "We warned you that you would see a surprise soon! And it will not be the last." The video ends with an excerpt from an old address by ISIS spokesman Abu Al-Hasan Al-Muhajir in which he urges ISIS soldiers to prepare for a long-term battle.
Below are screenshots from the video:
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[1] Telegram.me/AF, April 25, 2019.
[2] See MEMRI JTTM report UPDATED – ISIS Claims Responsibility For Sri Lanka Attacks, April 23, 2019.
[3] See MEMRI JTTM report ISIS Weekly Al-Naba' Praises Sri Lanka Attacks, Portrays It As Fulfillment Of ISIS's Threat Against 'Crusaders', April 25, 2019.
