ISIL Threatens U.S. With New Twitter Hashtag

What's This?

Demonstrators chant pro-al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as they wave al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on June 16, 2014.

Image: File/Associated Press

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-06-27 15:18:26 UTC

The radical Islamist group sweeping through Iraq has a message for America: Stay out of this — or else!

And, in a tech update of the taped speeches of Osama bin Laden, the militants are using a Twitter hashtag to threaten the U.S.

The hashtag #calamitywillbefallUS is being used by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIL or ISIS,) a terror group that has shown extreme social media savvy.

See also: 5 Ways to Defeat the Radical Islamist Group Sweeping Iraq

Accounts linked to the group have been using the hashtag to make threats against the U.S. and spread ISIL propaganda.

ISIL has also disseminated a manifesto of sorts on Twitter, in Arabic and English, threatening to retaliate against the U.S. in the event of a military intervention.

"If the United States bombs Iraq, every American citizen is a legitimate target for us," reads the document.

As ISIL advances toward Baghdad, with a stated goal of creating a unified Islamic country that spans across the borders of Syria and Iraq, Washington has struggled to figure out how best to respond. President Barack Obama has so far refused to intervene directly.

BONUS: Iraq: What's Happening & Why You Should Care

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Topics: iraq, ISIL, Isis, terrorism, U.S., US & World, World