Think Again! US tweets photos of four DEAD ISIS jihadis as it launches social media war on terrorists and would-be foreign fighters

The U.S. State Department ratcheted up the online propaganda war on Wednesday, tweeting a photo composite showing four dead ISIS jihadis who it suggested were killed in overnight airstrikes in Syria.

The 'Think Again Turn Away' program's Twitter account blasted out the image to nearly 8,000 followers. The initiative's goal is to dissuade would-be jihadis, including so-called 'foreign fighters,' from joining up with ISIS.

The U.S. government used the same account in recent weeks to distribute a mock ISIS recruiting video that lambasted the terror group for mass executions and the destruction of Muslim historical sites. 

 

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Advertising with an edge: The US State Department is using a Twitter account to frighten would-be ISIS recruits with images of dead jihadis – implying that any aspiring infidel-hunter could be the next casualty

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Shock and awe in 140 characters: America's government is tweeting images like this one taken from the video feed of a drone in mid-attack

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Trolling ISIS terrorists is more art than science, but generally includes a heavy dose of military hardware meant to strike fear into the hearts of Islamist radicals

Social media messaging has become a key element in the Obama administration's battle for hearts and minds in the Arab world, especially since ISIS - the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham – began distributing graphic beheading videos that way.

State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Sept 5 that the anti-jihad campaign had already 'been appearing in Arabic for quite some time. We are doing more in English as well.'

The messages are produced by the agency's Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications as a pushback against Islamist terror groups that use online spaces to recruit militants and spread propaganda to young followers.

Efforts from ISIS, in particular, have proven effective – and provide ample headaches to the agencies that comprise America's national security infrastructure. 

The terror army 'operates the most significant propaganda machine of any extremist group,' according to National Counterterrorism Center director Center Matt Olsen.

 

One ISIS-linked Twitter account with nearly 10,000 followers claimed Tuesday night that the 'first victims of air strikes by US on Syria' were 'children and women.'

Another tweeted news stories from dubious sources claiming French fighter jets mistakenly bombed Kurdish allies, killing 75 fighters in a friendly-fire cockup.

Separately, a weeks-long Twitter campaign centered around the hashtag #AMessageFromISIStoUS spread a series of chest-puffing boasts, including direct threats against the U.S. homeland.

That hashtag has since been taken over by Americans who now regularly taunt ISIS Islamists.

The American government aims to initiate a similar turnabout on a much larger scale so fewer ISIS sympathizers will give in to the magnetic pull of a firefight in Iraq or Syria. 

About one-third of the 31,000 fighters available to ISIS today came to Syria and Iraq from other countries, including an estimated 2,000 from Europe and 100 from the United States. 

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In a rare UN Security Council meeting that featured 15 heads of state – not just ambassadors – a unanimous vote advanced a plan to fight terrorism with new legal penalties against 'foreign fighters'

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UK Prime Minister David Cameron, left, addressed the UN Security Council summit on foreign terrorists after US President Barack Obama used the monthly-rotating gavel to hold the vote

Obama at UN: The only thing ISIS killers understand is force

America's messages are 'targeted at potential recruits [and] potential sympathizers,' Harf said, 'to show and expose the brutality of terrorist organizations, including ... ISIS.'

The larger goal is 'to point out the fallacies of what they’re talking about, point out the inconsistencies, point out how this is contrary to Islam – and really make very clear what this group is so people don’t join it.' 

The U.S. and a group of nations, including some from the Arab world, began bombing ISIS targets in Syria on Monday.  

The Think Again Turn Away campaign's 'recruiting' video went viral three weeks ago; it used the group's own online propaganda footage to reposition murderous jihad as a foolish aspiration.

Its opening scene showed a mosque being blown up, followed by a photo of a decapitated body.

Viewers were told newly minted ISIS soldiers can learn ‘useful skills’ including bombing mosques with Muslims trapped inside, crucifying fellow Muslims and plundering public resources.

It closed with a sarcastic slogan: ‘Travel is inexpensive, because you won't need a return ticket!’   

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Join today, a mocking State Department 'recruiting' video said, and you too could destroy a Mosque – as ISIS soldiers have done in their sectarian Muslim-on-Muslim holy war

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Lampoon: The Obama administration's Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications even poked fun at ISIS recruits for reportedly needing to bone up on their Islam basics before reporting for duty

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Discouraging American 'foreign fighters' too: When these two Minnesota-based ISIS recruits turned up dead, the State Department hung their digital heads up for everyone in the US to see

On Wednesday in New York City, all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution that requires all 193 UN countries to prosecute anyone who travels abroad to help ISIS. The same rule will apply to people who finance global terror networks.

Countries will also be expected to close their borders to their own citizens if they return home after fighting alongside the ISIS menace. 

President Barack Obama, who chaired the council meeting, said it would be 'legally binding.' But in reality the UN has no means of enforcing its resolutions, and relies largely on peer pressure and threats of country-to-country sanctions to keep nations in line. 

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