ISIS Spokesman: 'We Want Paris Before Rome'

The latest communique from the Islamic State, alleged to contain the voice of spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, specifically mentioned attacks on Paris would come before the conquest of Rome.

“We won the day Europe and US dreamt of reclaiming Tal Hamis, Mosul, Sinjar, Tikrit, Qaim, Derna, Tell Abyad, and more,” said the ISIS mouthpiece, as transcribed by Ynet News. “On the other hand, we – with Allah’s help – want Paris, before Rome and Islamic Iberia and after we blow up the White House, Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower before Paris, and Rome. We want Kabul, Karachi, Riyadh, Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo, Sana’a, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Amman. The Muslims will return to power, to be the vanguard and lead in every place.”

For some time now, the Islamic State has been open about its desire wage war against Rome. This understandably put the Italian government on guard, especially since ISIS moved into Libya, but a review of the terror state’s theology suggests they sometimes use “Rome” as shorthand for the armies of Christendom, i.e. the “Crusaders,” who are supposed to show up on land where ISIS is currently squatting and fight a big battle that will kick-start the apocalypse.

A major objective of the statement was apparently to deny that the Islamic State is on the verge of losing Tikrit, where the Iraqi Army and Shiite militia groups seemed to be doing well until the offensive stalled on Friday morning, “frustrated by guerrilla tactics from Islamic State militants” in the words of a Reuters dispatch. The Iraqis are confident they can liberate the city once they bring in reinforcements and the Shiite militia gets into the fight.

The message also celebrated the new formal alliance between ISIS and Boko Haram in Nigeria, seeking to rally African Muslims to join Boko Haram as a duly authorized branch of the Islamic State.

The list of targets provided in the ISIS message would give them designs on Afghanistan (where they have been trying to subvert and absorb the Taliban, with an eye on overthrowing the U.S.-backed government in Kabul), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Yemen (currently in the grip of Iranian-backed Shiite tribes), Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan (hell-bent on bombing ISIS into oblivion after they murdered one of its pilots), in addition to the wars they are already fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Adnani also demanded Jews and Christians “convert to Islam or pay the ultimate price when your armies are expelled from Muhammad’s peninsula, from Jerusalem, and all Muslim lands.”  He accused the “Jews and Crusaders” lined up against ISIS of being “scared and weak.”

“We are the followers of Muhammad, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, and his followers will never be defeated!” the ISIS representative thunders in conclusion, having apparently missed all those explanations from Western leaders about how the Islamic State has absolutely nothing to do with Islam.