Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.
The video, which appeared on a website used by Islamic State to post its messages, begins with news footage of the aftermath of Friday's Paris shootings in which at least 129 people were killed.
The message to countries involved in what it called the "crusader campaign" was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.
"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," the man said.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video, which purports to be the work of Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi province of Salahuddine, north of Baghdad.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security would not comment on the video but said it has not received information indicating a potential attack.
"While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific credible information of an attack on the U.S. homeland," a DHS official said on condition of anonymity.
The French government has called the Paris attacks an act of war and said it would not end its air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
A video released by an Islamic State-affiliated jihadist group threatened Washington, DC, with a Paris-like attack if it continued its military campaign in Syria.
Days after claiming responsibility for killing 129 people in Friday’s multiple attacks in Paris, the IS-linked terrorists vowed — in a new video posted to an IS website on Monday — the US would “suffer the same fate” as France.
“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” Reuters quoted the video as warning.
The threat was delivered by a terrorist identified as “Al Ghareeb the Algerian,” a man clad in military fatigues and a turban. He also threatened the “crusader” nations participating in the US-led military coalition targeting Islamic State strongholds in Syria.
“I say to the European countries that we are coming, coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and [gun] silencers, and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before,” he said.
On Monday, CIA director John Brennan warned that the attacks in Paris were likely not a “one-off event” and said he expects the Islamic State has more operations in the pipeline.
“Security and intelligence services right now are working feverishly to see what else they can do in terms of uncovering it,” he told a Washington think tank.
“I would anticipate that this is not the only operation ISIL has in the pipeline,” he said, using an alternate acronym for IS, the terror group that has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.
House Republicans are vowing to shut down the Obama administration’s Syrian refugee resettlement program.
A draft of legislation composed by 15 House Republicans was obtained by Foreign Policy magazine on Monday. The bill’s sponsors aim to cut off all funding for refugees coming from the Middle East and North Africa until, “processes to ensure that refugee and related programs are not able to be co-opted by would-be terrorists.”
The lawmakers’ move comes in response to last Friday’s terror attack in Paris, France, that killed 129. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the wave of terror, and a fake Syrian passport was found near one of the suicide bombers.
Obama has expressed a desire to take in 10,000 Syrians in 2016 and up to 100,000 by the end of 2017.
FP’s reporting on Monday followed the decision by 12 state governors to refuse Syrian refugees sent by the federal government.
“Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees – any one of whom could be connected to terrorism – being resettled in Texas,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an open letter to Obama on Monday, Reuters reported. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity.”
“We are asking the U.S. Congress to take immediate and aggressive action to prevent President Obama and his administration from using any federal tax dollars to fund the relocation … without an extensive evaluation of the risk these individuals may pose to our national security,” added Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Islamist gunmen were sent to savage a youthful, melting-pot community where restaurants and bars are normally humming and the streets full.
The neighborhood was “calm — we went out, we came back late, it was lively. We drank our coffees on terraces with an unimaginable serenity,” Dorea said. “We don’t know why we were targeted.”
There is less defiance than after the January attacks, even though many have come out to pay their respects or gather in solidarity.
“They targeted people where they gather and that is scary. To me, now, a terrace means death.”
At La Belle Equipe (beautiful team), candles now flicker day and night among flowers and an unclaimed bicycle, where before laughing patrons drank cocktails on a terrace that was always crowded.
In a press conference this morning in Turkey, Obama said that 'the United States has to step up and do its part,' while chiding those in the opposition party for suggesting there be a 'religious test' for entry into the United States.
There's concern, after Friday's brutal attack in Paris, that ISIS fighters are infiltrating those fleeing Syria and will carry out future violence against the West.
'It is very important,' Obama said. 'That we do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism.'
However, Republican governors from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and Wisconsin said they would postpone programs to bring in Syrian refugees, or they're against the idea entirely
Additionally, CNN reported that Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee are also on the list.
Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina were added by USA Today.
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan was the first Democrat to express support for stopping the flow of Syrian refugees into her state.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said he wasn't sure if the governors had a legal right to prevent the flow of Syrian refugees into their states because 'this is a federal program,' though USA Today listed his state in the 'nay' column.
Democratic Govs. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut said their states will have open doors.
Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican of Pennsylvania, wrote Wolf a letter asking him to change his mind.
'I write to urge you in the strongest terms possible to reconsider your plans to accept the so-called 'refugees' fleeing Syria and welcome them to Pennsylvania,' Barletta wrote, noting his position on the House Committee on Homeland Security and suggesting it best wait to accept refugees until a security apparatus is in place.
Several GOP presidential candidates have voiced strong opinions on the issue too, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who suggested the United States simply help the Christians.
'There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror,' Cruz said yesterday at a campaign stop in South Carolina, as he called for Muslim refugees to be barred from entering the United States, according to the Washington Post.
'If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation,' Cruz said, who criticized the Obama administration for 'pretend[ing] as if there is no religious aspect to this.'
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