Isis wants ‘month of calamity’ in West
Islamic State has called on its followers to attack Europe and the United States during the holy month of Ramadan, which starts on June 7, raising fears of further violence against the West.
The audio message warning of a ‘‘month of calamity’’ came as Egypt intensified its efforts to recover the remains of EgyptAir Flight 804.
Some Egyptian, French and American officials have suggested that the Airbus A320 was most likely to have been brought down by jihadists, though President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, of Egypt, urged caution, saying ‘‘until now all scenarios are possible. So please, it is very important that we do not talk and say there is a specific scenario.’’
Isis, which claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai peninsula in Egypt in October, did not mention Thursday’s crash when it called for further attacks on Western nations during Ramadan.
‘‘Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad.
‘‘Get prepared, be ready . . . to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers . . . especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,’’ said the message, which purported to be from Isis leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani.
Al-Adnani told his followers that, ‘‘the tiniest action you do in the heart of their land is dearer to us than the biggest action by us . . . there are no innocents in the heart of the lands of the Crusaders’’.
He encouraged lone wolf attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start early next month, ‘‘to win the great award of martyrdom’’.
Al-Adnani also said the US-led war against the group was doomed to failure and that America ‘‘fell in the swamp of perdition’’.
The speech may have been aimed at boosting morale after the group suffered a string of military setbacks and lost territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Last week, Brett McGurk, the US presidential envoy to the 66-country anti-Isis coalition, said that ‘‘this perverse caliphate is shrinking’’.
Addressing these losses, al-Adnani said that even if Isis was pushed out of its strongholds such as Raqqa and Mosul this would not count as defeat because ‘‘defeat is the loss of will and the desire to fight’’.
His mention of the possible loss of the Syrian city of Raqqa coincided with a secret trip to Syria on Saturday by General Joseph Votel, the new commander of US forces in the Middle East. The US is trying to develop credible Arab fighters to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State’s selfdeclared capital.
Mosques in Raqqa broadcast an announcement that civilians would be allowed to leave the city, after earlier this week planes thought to belong to the international coalition dropped fliers on the city instructing residents to leave ahead of an offensive.
Meanwhile, Sisi said that an offshore oil industry submarine that can dive to 3000 metres was to join the search for the EgyptAir jet.
Relatives of the victims, who are mainly Egyptian and French, have been told that recovery and identification of the bodies could take weeks.
More memorial services have been held across Egypt. Riham Hassan, 27, had been on board with her husband, Ahmed Ashiri, after completing cancer treatment in Paris. She was returning home to celebrate the all-clear with her three children: two girls still in kindergarten and a son in his first year of primary school.
‘‘It was the last session of treatment, she was in good health before she came back to Egypt. She said to her son she is coming back and she is totally fine,’’ Mohamed, a friend and neighbour, said.
Sunday evening prayers were held in central Cairo for another mother, Marwa Hamdy, 40, a Canadian national who worked with IBM in Egypt.
She had been in Istanbul for work but changed her flight at the last minute to go home via Paris and surprise her sister, Noha, 37, who lives there.