ISIS Video Appears to Show Paris Assailants Earlier in Syria and Iraq

Source: New York Times

PARIS — The Islamic State released a video on Sunday apparently showing footage of the men who carried out the November attacks in Paris while they were in Syria and Iraq, where they are pictured carrying out executions, including beheadings.

If the identities of the men in the video are confirmed, it would be the first evidence that the group that killed 130 people in coordinated attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 had been sent entirely from the Islamic State’s base in Syria.

The video appears to make clear that the Paris attacks were not just inspired by the Islamic State, but that the group itself was attacking on European soil. It also aims to show that the assailants — some of whom had European passports — had been carrying out atrocities in the group’s name long before their return to Europe.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, began teasing the release last week in the latest issue of Dabiq, its monthly magazine, where a still image of the video appeared. Several of the assailants pictured in Syria or Iraq are seen wearing what appear to be lapel microphones suggesting that they were recording themselves. The footage shows one of the attackers beheading a victim and another shooting a captive.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/world/middleeast/isis-video-paris-attacks.html