海角大神

聽A daily roundup of terrorism and security issues

Hours after the most senior American military official raised the possibility of sending US combat troops into action in Iraq, the extremist Islamic State released a short video apparently threatening to kill US forces if they are deployed there.聽

The 52-second clip was released late Tuesday night by the group鈥檚 media wing, the Al Hayat Media Center. The propaganda clip is made in the style of a Hollywood trailer, with slow-motion fighting scenes and shots of injured American troops. It ends with the words 鈥淔lames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun,鈥� followed by 鈥渃oming soon.鈥�

The video is the latest example of the group鈥檚 sophisticated use of social media, which it has used for fundraising and recruitment. In the past month, IS has released three videos showing the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker, as well as recruitment clips and videos glorifying IS martyrs, The New York Times notes.

Laith Alkhouri, a senior analyst at the New York based security consulting firm Flashpoint Global partners, told the Times that the video indicates that IS 鈥渁ppears to be more relentless than ever, not only expanding in territory but also raising the bar in its confrontation with the world鈥檚 top superpower.鈥澛�

While IS offered no explanation of its video, the timing of its release suggests that it was in response to Gen. Martin Dempsey鈥檚 testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.

Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the panel that if the international coalition that President Obama is building to counter IS fails, he 鈥渨ould go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of US military ground forces.鈥� Mr. Obama previously ruled out any "boots on the ground."

The video also follows the Pentagon鈥檚 release of more details Tuesday on US air strikes against IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL, the Guardian reports.

IS consolidated its media wing over the summer, escalating its social media activities, according to the Monitor.

The use of social media has fueled a debate about the extent to which extremist groups' accounts should be blocked. Some counter-intelligence analysts point out that IS releases have helped them track operations, troop movements, and foreign recruits, the Monitor reported.

As Twitter and YouTube have blocked IS content, the group is turning to other outlets. This summer, IS transferred its regional spokesman accounts to another social media platform called Diaspora.