Even radical Islamic terrorists are taking the threat of coronavirus seriously, according to terrorist communications intercepted by national security officials in the United Kingdom: ISIS has directed its army of jihadists to avoid Europe unless they are already affected by the deadly virus.
The Times of London reported Sunday that ISIS’ newsletter, “al-Naba,” is instructing radical Islamic jihadists to steer clear of European countries and plan terrorist activities closer to home, in line with global “social distancing” policies.
The terror network is also instructing its adherents to practice good hygiene amid the coronavirus threat.
ISIS “has issued a new set of ‘sharia directives’ that instruct followers to ‘cover their mouths when yawning and sneezing’ and to wash their hands regularly. ISIS militants have plenty of experience in covering their faces, though previously they did so to hide their identities when beheading hostages on camera,” the Times reported. The group advises jihadis to flee from infected individuals “as you flee from the lion.”
Healthy jihadis “should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it.”
The Times notes that ISIS does not refer to the World Health Organization on matters of hygiene and health but rather to the Prophet Muhammed and quotes from the Islamic holy book, the Koran. In accordance with ISIS’s tirade against the west, ISIS believes coronavirus, which they refer to as the “plague,” is a “torment sent by God on whomsoever He wills.”
There is one caveat: if a jihadi finds himself sickened with coronavirus in the land of the infidel, he should remain in Europe in order to spread the disease to as many other people as possible.
ISIS is not nearly as powerful as it once was, and it controls only small, scattered territories across the Middle East. But even if members of ISIS restrict themselves to Syria, Iraq, and other areas under their control, they may not be able to avoid the coronavirus.
“In Iran, the regional epicenter of the outbreak, the virus has killed 354 people and infected some 9,000 people nationwide,” according to Haaretz. Turkey and Egypt have reported cases of the virus, and both Lebanon and Bahrain have taken measures to shut down travel. Iraq, where ISIS has its headquarters, has 110 cases of the virus.
Iran is, it seems, quickly outsourcing the disease across the region.
“Nearly every single country in the MENA region, except Libya, Mauritania, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, have confirmed cases of the new coronavirus,” Mid-East Eye reports. “Qatar, meanwhile, saw an increase of more than 238 cases in one day on Wednesday while Bahrain reported 77 new coronavirus cases from Iran.”
Europe, at least, is doing its best to maintain “social distance” between its residents and members of ISIS. According to the Daily Signal, in a piece written last October, Europe has taken aggressive efforts to restrict those ISIS members who left their homes in places like the UK and France to join the terror network, from returning to European soil. Although the efforts have frustrated the United States’ anti-terror efforts, they may well keep Europeans safe.