ISIS is increasingly directing its threats against Israel as the terrorist group is suffering setbacks in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria, Brett McGurk, presidential envoy to a 66-member anti-ISIS coalition, told Congress on Tuesday.
US Special Envoy to the US-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, Brett McGurk, said that ISIS is focusing on Israel as a target.
“ISIL’s [Islamic State] media statements in recent months, as they suffer losses on the battlefield, have focused on Israel as a target, clearly hoping to generate international headlines to compensate for its defeats. We must not allow this to happen,” McGurk said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Russia’s Sputnik news reported.
ISIS has a presence in the Syrian Golan Heights, north of Israel, and has carried out attacks against Jordanian forces from the Yarmouk Valley, near the Syrian, Jordanian, and Israeli border triangle.
Israel has not, as of yet, been the direct target of an ISIS attack, which also has a strong affiliate in Sinai. The IDF has been training extensively for a pending ISIS attack.
ISIS has previously threatened to attack Israel in several of its propaganda clips, including one published in Hebrew.
Brett McGurk, Obama’s envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS. (AP/Hadi Mizban, Pool)
However, Mcgurk said in May that the tide has turned in the ideological battle against the terrorists and they are now losing.
He described a round-the-clock anti-ISIS propaganda campaign involving companies such as Facebook and YouTube and the governments of Jordan, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“For every pro-Daesh Twitter handle, there are now six calling out its lies and countering its message,” McGurk said, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym.
US officials said earlier this year that the military had ramped up cyber operations against the group.
The officials said at the time that operations include efforts by US Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, to prevent the group from using the Internet and social media to communicate and distribute propaganda aimed at attracting and inspiring recruits.
By: United with Israel Staff
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