ISIS Uses Attacks as Propaganda

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(Newswire.net — July 23, 2016) — The attacks which ISIS has claimed responsibility for have allowed them to reach their goal with little effort, reports French news agency AFP.

Thanks to these attacks, ISIS has managed to intimidate the world without planning and financing operations in Europe and the United States.

The agency added that ISIS leave almost no trace for the authorities to track or prevent attacks.

These kind of attacks allow the Islamic State make it seem like they are still carrying out attacks on their enemies, even though the organization has suffered a series of defeats in Iraq and Syria, according to the AFP.

Terrorism expert and Jihad-Intel Research Fellow at the Middle East Forum, Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, believes that such attacks make it possible to develop a continuous state of fear and strengthen the idea that the Islamic state is still a powerful force even after suffering losses in the field.

He added that the way in which the Islamic State claims responsibility for the attacks, indicates its lack of direct and operational participation.

Encouraging attacks in Western countries is part of their strategy, which proves the fact that the organization is ready to assume responsibility for most of these attacks, said Will McCants, also an expert on militants and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The attacks, which ISIS inspires, will not stop but will instead provoke more paranoia, explained McCants, adding that the reason for this is that the attacker could be anyone.

AFP reports that the language used by the Islamic State to take responsibility for the attacks in Germany and France, shows that they inspired the attacks but also had an operational role in them.

The militant linked Amaq agency, announced that a teenager who had attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria with an ax and a knife did so in response to calls to attack countries that are part of the coalition that fight against ISIS.

According to the AFP, this agency used similar language after the attack in Nice in which a truck driver killed 84 people.

Both attackers were described as members of the Islamic State, but that does not necessarily mean that they had any direct connection to or that they were trained by these militant groups, estimates the AFP.

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami, spokesman for the so-called Islamic State called for attacks on citizens of Western countries in 2014, and gave instructions how to execute them without military equipment, using stones, knives or trampling with vehicles.

Since then, this organization has continuously published a series of promotional photos, images and text that glorifies its activities and calls on Muslims to join them.

Such propaganda provides a framework for individuals who have psychological problems or are otherwise prone to violence, regardless of whether they have ties with Islamic extremism, the AFP says.