Social Media Jihad: More mourning for AQAP’s deputy

AAST ISIL statement on AQAP deputy Captured 13-7-30.png

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has issued a statement mourning, or celebrating, the “martyrdom” of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s deputy leader, Said al Shihri, who was killed by a US drone strike. The ISIL’s statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

“We received with sad hearts content with the destiny of Allah, what the brothers in religion and jihad in al Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula announced about the news of the killing of the unique mujahid sheikh [Said al Shihri], the active leader who spoke the truth,” the statement reads. Al Shihri “was killed in a cowardly operation at the treacherous hands of the Crusaders,” ISIL says.

The ISIL’s statement quickly made the rounds on jihadist social media sites. For instance, the image above, which accompanied a post with the ISIL’s statement in it, is from Ansar al Sharia Tunisia’s Facebook news page. That same page regularly features propaganda from the ISIL and the Al Nusrah Front. The blue logo is part of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia’s new branding of its news page. The group has itself twice mourned al Shihri’s death.

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

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Iraq

Islamic state

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