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Pro-ISIS Recruitment Video Encourages Foreign Fighters to Join Jihad

The video, titled “No Life Without Jihad,” was released by the Al Hayat Media Center which is an ISIS-affiliated group.
Photo via Al Hayat Media Center

A video emerged Thursday featuring alleged foreign members of ISIS urging other Muslims in western countries to join the militant Islamic group and take up arms in Iraq and Syria.

The video, titled “No Life Without Jihad,” was released by the Al Hayat Media Center which is an ISIS-affiliated group focused on recruiting Muslims in western countries. They also have accounts in German and French.

Presenting: There is No Life Without Jihad — AlHayat Media Center (@alhayaten)June 19, 2014

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The video features a British man — sitting next to four other alleged ISIS members — who identifies himself as Brother Abu Muthanna al Yemeni extolling the virtues of jihad. He encourages foreign Muslims “to answer the call of Allah and his messenger when he calls you to what gives you life…what he says gives you life is jihad.”

Now even ISIS has its very own whistleblower. Read more here.

Al Yemeni then goes on to describe how other loyal fighters have come from such places as Bangladesh, Australia, and the UK to answer this call. He then urges others to do the same by going to Iraq and Syria to re-conquer “Muslim lands.”

Another man, speaking in an Australian accent, follows Al Yemeni by saying, “When it comes to Jihad, there are two types of people: those who will find every excuse to come to Jihad, and those who will find every single excuse not to come to Jihad.”

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This is not the first time ISIS has used to social media to spread their message. Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, ISIS has relied on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to dictate their own narrative of the fighting and often to recruit other foreign fighters to join forces.

An ISIS supporter and spokesperson described this strategy to VICE News on Tuesday.

“Social media is good for building a network of connections and recruitment,” said Abu Bakr al Janabi. “Fighters talk about experiences in battle and encourage people to rise, and supporters defend and translate ISIS statements.”

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Another example of this social media campaign emerged this week when a picture quickly circulated on social media showing ISIS fighters burning piles of forbidden cigarettes in Iraq.

Jihadi group ISIS publicly torched cigarettes and booze in Syria. Read more here.

The cigarettes are considered to be “haram” (forbidden under Islamic law) and were believed to be smuggled into the country. The picture was posted on Twitter by a Turkish jihadist on Thursday.

This is also not the first time images of ISIS burning cigarettes appeared online. In March, a video surfaced of ISIS fighters burning cigarettes and alcohol in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @obecker928