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| The Islamic State group, whose flags are pictured here in northern Iraq, has lost large swathes of its territory since a US-led alliance started an offensive in 2014 |
The Hague (AFP) - European and US police forces have struck at the heart of Islamic State's propaganda machine, seizing servers and "punching a hole" in its ability to spread its radical jihadist message online.
The
transatlantic takedown was spread over eight countries and was coordinated by
the EU's police agency in "a major operation over a two-year period",
the head of Europol, Rob Wainwright, told AFP on Friday.
Wednesday
and Thursday's operation was the latest in a campaign targeting in particular the
Amaq news agency used by IS to broadcast claims of attacks and spread its
message of jihad.
"With
this takedown action, targeting major IS-branded media outlets like Amaq, but
also al-Bayan radio, Halumu and Nasher news, IS's capability to broadcast and
publicise terrorist material has been compromised," Europol said in a
statement.
The
"simultaneous multinational takedown" was coordinated by Europol from
its headquarters in The Hague, and led by the Belgian federal prosecutor.
"Dozens
and dozens" of police fanned out in their countries, seizing servers in
the Netherlands, Canada and the United States as well as in Bulgaria, France
and Romania.
'Technically challenging'
The goal
was "to destabilise this apparatus by seizing and dismantling servers used
to diffuse IS propaganda and to identify and arrest its administrators,"
the Belgian prosecutor said in a statement.
"With
this groundbreaking operation we have punched a big hole in the capability of
IS to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe,"
Wainwright said.
Britain's
Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit was also involved in identifying
"top-level domain registrars abused by IS", and the Bulgarian
interior ministry confirmed "access was blocked to four servers, used for
disseminating information" by Amaq in its country.
"It
was so technically challenging that we were only really able to do it because
of our experience in major cybercrime takedowns," Wainwright told AFP.
"We
basically ran the cyber playbook against IS," he said, adding police
forces around the world had spent years gathering intelligence to locate the
servers being used by the jihadists.
'Squeezed' in battle and online
While a
US-led international coalition has been combatting IS on the battlefields of
Iraq and Syria taking back territory it had seized in 2014, nations have also
warned that a multi-pronged effort was needed, including choking off funding
and its online access.
"They've
been squeezed on the battlefield, and now they've been really badly squeezed,
badly hit, on the online platform as well," said Wainwright.
IS used
Amaq to claim "every major attack since 2015 in Europe", he said,
including the deadly assaults in Paris, Brussels, Barcelona and Berlin.
"The
technical infrastructure which allows it to put these terrible propaganda
videos and messages out has been knocked offline," Wainwright told AFP,
speaking on his last day as Europol chief.
But
Europol's investigation is still ongoing, and arrests could follow.
At its
height, the IS media portfolio included smartphone apps for children, websites,
and a glossy magazine, full of post-apocalyptic prophesies and articles
declaring the "caliphate" was the only legitimate and viable home for
Muslims.
But as IS's
structure has crumbled, its media empire has waned too. Al-Bayan radio, which
once broadcast on frequency mode and offered a wide range of statements, news
and talks in several languages, had long moved online and reduced its
activities.
On Friday,
however, Nasher news -- the main Telegram account on which Amaq statements are
posted in the region -- remained active, claiming jihadist fighters had damaged
three Syrian army vehicles in fighting in southern Damascus.
"We
are realistic in recognising that there still might be a retained possibility
of re-establishing the network," Wainwright said, highlighting that this
week's action was the third in a series of such takedowns.
"But
we're getting stronger every time, and narrowing the space for them to
re-create their online presence."
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