ISIS exploits plight and death of well child in its messages against Arab media

The media represents an essential tool in ISIS’s strategy of spreading and recruiting, as well as promoting its violent activities, with the aim of creating a state of international debate about its behavior and ideology in order to reap the promotional aura it needs for organizational development.

ISIS used to broadcast its messages through major media stations that originate from social media platforms, as well as its magazine Al-Naba, the most prominent and important written means of communication, as the organization relies on it to deliver its messages, whether to politicians and research followers or to its internal elements and sympathizers, in addition to those with troubled identities whom it aims to recruit.

ISIS media messages

The news is seen as a periodic media outlet that may carry usual motivational messages for its followers, but the recent issues are of special importance because they follow the killing of the organization’s leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, and therefore they carry ideas that ISIS wants to direct abroad and internally, as it focused in its issue published on February 10 on the media through an article published under the title “They enchanted the eyes of people”.

ISIS devoted this article to attacking the Arab media, accusing it of misleading the public and spreading views contrary to the reality of ISIS and its elements. The article argued that the Arab media adopted the same approach as Western politicians, describing them as “infidels”. The terrorist organization also claimed that the Arab media are lying to the followers of the implementation of the goals of the West towards Islam and Muslims, in a clear directive to paint the issue with religious pretexts, regardless of the different dimensions of the crisis.

Following the death of Qurashi, ISIS media has been focusing on indirect messages, meaning that they send veiled messages to members and followers from abroad without entering into the details of the killing of their leader in order to convey their most important message, which is that the organization is not affected by the killing of its leaders.

In this regard, it is possible that their recent message about the media will cast more doubts about the reports issued by the organization, as well as direct their internal elements to not follow others as the only source of religion, while ISIS has not abandoned the use of Quranic verses in its writings.

Well child is present in ISIS media messages

In its recent messages, ISIS spoke about the media and its coverage of the news about the Moroccan child Rayan, who fell into a deep well and later died. The terrorist organization criticized the media’s focus on this issue and neglecting the issues of children in Syria and Iraq who suffer from hunger and cold, as if ISIS was washing away its reputation about the children of its main geographical stronghold, as it was the main cause of their present suffering.

Meanwhile, the organization considered the expressions of Arab unity, such as “We are all one nation”, that were launched in sympathy with Rayan’s case as mere nonsense, pointing out that this media coverage and the resulting phrases were managed by the West to distract from the organization’s self-claimed gallantry at Ghuwayran prison in northern Syria. It also criticized the expressions of Arab unity as a nation that does not make its own decisions.

ISIS argues that any media that criticizes its moves is directed by US President Joe Biden and his associates, trying to create a state of anger among its followers and supporters against the Arab media, thus establishing the bases of suspicion in the anti-ideological messages.