As "details" and "intelligence" surface regarding the attacks that left 129 dead in Paris on Friday, and as French warplanes drop bombs on Raqqa, you had to have known it was only a matter of time before ISIS released another Hollywood special to, i) do some more gloating about the "successful" assault on the French capital, and ii) threaten France and anyone assissting them with still more attacks in retailiation for retailiating.
In short, this is an endless loop of attack-retailiate-attack-retailiate that, if both sides want it to, could easily end up seeing American, French, and British boots on the ground in eastern Syria, setting the stage for - you guessed it - the final battle for the political future of Assad once the ISIS distraction has been relegated to annals of terrorist history. After all, the West has always hung on to the "Assad's brutality attracts terrorists" line and so, it would be easy enough to claim that in order to keep Syria "ISIS-free," Assad has to go.
Well sure enough, on Monday we get the latest video from ISIS' media arm and the group has now threatened to strike Washington. Here's Reuters [4]:
Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.
"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," one man in the video said.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video.
Earlier, you could have "verified" it for yourself, but video hosting sites are playing the usual game of whack-a-mole with the ISIS videos and it appears that as of now, most of the hosting is down. Here are some stills:
(the guy on the right falls asleep about four times througout)
Expect more of this chest beating in the days and weeks to come as the collateral damage from French airstrikes in Raqqa mounts and expect Western intelligence to insist that no more "credible" threats exist right up until officials are yet again picking up a charred - but mostly intact - Syrian passport off the streets.