Islamic State announces new global campaign to rally members and supporters

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FDD's Long War Journal

Caleb Weiss

January 5, 2024

In a new audio message released online, the Islamic State’s official spokesman, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari, announced a new global campaign to the world. Entitled “Kill Them Wherever You Find Them,” taken after Surat Al-Baqarah’s infamous ayah, the campaign comes during a historic nadir in the group’s propaganda output. 

As of the time of publishing, the Islamic State has claimed at least 30 operations around the world as part of this campaign. These attacks stretch from Iraq and Syria, to Mali, Nigeria, the Congo, Mozambique, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. It is likely more countries will be represented in the coming days. This thus marks the most active 24 hours for the Islamic State’s once powerful propaganda apparatus in over a year. 

The campaign, which is nominally in support of Palestine, was also timed for the Islamic State to officially take credit for the recent double explosions inside Iran. Claiming them as suicide bombings, the blasts killed around 100 people in Kerman, Iran. According to the Islamic State, these blasts kicked off this campaign, which is in part ‘revenge’ for Iran’s actions vis-a-vis the war in Gaza. 

For instance, in Al-Ansari’s speech, he makes the group’s animosity towards Iran, as well as various Palestinian factions, very clear. “The true nature of this war is that it’s one of an imaginary axis, and Iran has created this in service of its projects, and the first and only goal of it is to involve all Palestinian factions as a proxy of Iran, and not the other way,” al-Ansari states. 

He goes on to say that as a result, “this is what happened, so Iran and its parties were saved from the fierce battle, which Gaza is enduring alone from the blood of its children and women.” 

(Snip)