According to this Fox report, the war against the Islamic State has taken an ominous turn.
An Air Force pilot posted a photo from a bombing mission over Iraq. Soon after that, ISIS supporters online traced his Facebook profile to his son, said to be in his early teens. The ISIS supporters then slammed the boy with harassing messages.
“This is the real deal,” the counterterrorism source said, referring to the posts. “They want to find them [U.S. military], raise their profile, in the eyes of a potential ‘lone wolf.'”
The militants apparently encouraged others to join in the digital harassment.
A post on one ISIS-linked Twitter account, translated for Fox News, said: “We have a raid on an American pilot account at 9:00 evening Mecca time who is participating in the crusaders’ bombing. Retweet this if you are ready to be part of the raid.”
An Army bulletin warns that ISIS jihadists may engage not only in cyber attacks, but in actual attacks.
The Army intelligence bulletin, obtained by Fox News, had warned that Islamic State militants were calling on supporters to scour social media for addresses of U.S. military family members and “show up [at their homes] and slaughter them.” The assessment urged U.S. military personnel to be vigilant.
The US could be degrading ISIS’ online accounts and activities, but Jeff Bardin of the cyber intelligence service Treadstone 71 writes that we are not. US intelligence is barely even engaged in that part of the battle.
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