By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
As the U.S. continues to lead coalition efforts against ISIL, Washington’s top Middle East commander said Thursday that the militants are waging a formidable media campaign for new recruits.
As airstrikes take their toll on the jihadist group, ISIL has sought to recruit new legions via its extensive media presence. Highly stylized videos of its fighters training and in combat are not hard to find online, nor are the gruesome images of its hallmark beheadings.
U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin said during public remarks at the Atlantic Council think tank Thursday that the skill with which the militants conduct their propaganda campaigns is “about as good as I’ve ever seen.”
“I think that a number of the folks who are among the ranks of this organization have been in this business before, and so they’ve learned the lessons of Iraq, and other places, and they really understand the value of trying to dominate the media space,” he said.
But the graphic videos of beheadings have united the international community against the group, the commander said.
"Because of that kind of activity, the international community has very quickly united to say, 'we're not going to tolerate this, and we need to do something about this because some of those folks in there doing these kinds of things right now, they could wind up on our doorstep back here at home,'" he said.
The U.S. and its allies are concerned over the prospects that more of their citizens might try to join the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Allen brushed aside concerns that ISIL, which he estimated to have between 9,000 and 17,000 fighters in its ranks, could potentially take their fight to the skies using seized aircraft.
“I know I have some fighter pilots that are hopeful that that happens,” he said to a chorus of laughter, “but I don’t think that’s going to happen in the near term.”
www.aa.com.tr/en
