ISIS Manifesto Says Paris Attacks Connected to Broader European Insurgency/Dave Yonkman

Washington, D.C. – A new manifesto released online by ISIS reveals that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris massacre, slipped into Europe posing as a Syrian refugee as part of a broader strategy to import urban warfare from the former Syria and Iraq into Europe.

“The ISIS manifesto tells us a lot about the terror network’s reach and sophistication in developing a long-term strategy for destroying the West,” Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Shillman Senior Fellow Pete Hoekstra said.

“Europe and the U.S. need to take such declarations seriously as we debate how to defeat ISIS and develop new policies on accepting refugees. ”Titled “Black Flags From The Islamic State,” the new document obtained by the IPT and discussed in its new report, “Islamic State Manifesto: Sleeper Cells Sent to Europe Posing as Refugees,” indicates that more than 200 ISIS operatives provided planning and logistical support for the operation two months prior to the attacks.

The document expands upon ISIS writings in an earlier manifesto titled “Black Flags From Rome,” in which the terrorist group claimed to have sent well-trained sleeper agents posing as refugees to Europe since 2012. The 99-page manifesto also details ISIS’s desire to spark a European Islamic insurgency by creating neighborhoods off-limits to non-Muslims – such as Molenbeek in Belgium – as bases of operations.

“Western officials need to understand that these nihilistic jihadists mean what they say,” Hoekstra continued. “Loose refugee protocols and allowing space for Islamists to form their own exclusive enclaves presents fertile ground for them to plot and execute attacks against Europe and the U.S.”

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