In risposta ai raid aerei effettuati dagli USA e da cinque stati arabi alleati nella coalizione contro obiettivi dello Stato islamico (IS) e di al-Nusra, i jihadisti hanno inondato i social media (in particolare Twitter) condannando gli attacchi, lanciando un appello all’unità jihadista nella regione, e diffondendo minacce verso gli Stati Uniti e i paesi alleati .

A common talking point among jihadist and jihadist-supporting Twitter accounts has been that the U.S. and the West has declared war on Islam. The account of Dutch jihadist “Israfil Yilmaz” referred to the attacks as being delivered by “cowards from the sky” and followed up, “This is like Ive said before not just a war on State, but a war on Islam, a war on the Muslims of Syria and Iraq.”

The account of Rayat al-Tawheed, a media group of IS-supporting Western fighters in Syria, echoed the same message, tweeting, “The attacks are not just on IS but an attack on Islam.”

In the same tweet, Rayat al-Tawheed followed up with another prevailing concern among jihadist accounts, stating that the U.S. offensive “will unite the ranks and we will seek one of the two victories.”
Turkish user “Ahmed ibni Hasan,” made multiple tweets to the same point, stating:

Following this message, the user then tweeted:

Tweets making the same call for unity even addressed numerous Arab nations’ support for America. User “Ibn Ahmed” tweeted:

One jihadist, explained to be a fighter with al-Nusra Front, appeared in a video showing a building—allegedly an al-Nusra front headquarters—destroyed by U.S. airstrikes. In the video, titled “Verklaring Jagbhat al-Nusra,” he states that “many brothers died” and “got wounded.” He followed up, “Although things like this happen to us, we will keep on fighting the enemies.”

Other jihadist or jihadist-supporting accounts took a more aggressive tone to respond to the airstrikes, some implying or even directly calling for retaliation toward America. Rayat al-Tawheed, for example, tweeted:

Others tweets made the same threats to a snarkier note, with one user, “Abu Rayan #IS,” tweeting:

Jihadists expressed similar anger toward Saudi Arabia, which has openly declared support for attacks on IS by America. In an Arabic tweet, user ‘Al-Shaheedah# al-Khilafah” stated that if someone would provide him/her with a “bombed truck,” she/he would “pound airport of Tabuuk or any airport where their aircrafts take off from it.”

Another Arabic-writing user called for Muslims in Saudia Arabia to attack within its borders. The user, “Al-Jihad,” tweeted: