ISIS is warning terrorists to avoid operations in Europe as the coronavirus continues to infect and kill people on the continent.
Though Europe has been a favorite location for the terrorist group to attack civilians in shootings and bombings, ISIS told its followers to “stay away from the land of the epidemic” in “sharia directives” that read like a travel alert from a legitimate government, the Sunday Times reported Sunday.
Members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) cheer as they carry upside-down a black flag of the Islamic State (IS) group, with the destroyed Al-Nuri mosque seen in the background, in the Old City of Mosul on July 2, 2017, during the offensive to retake the city from IS fighters.
(AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
ISIS also provided the same hygienic advice that has become popular in nations combatting the coronavirus: thorough hand washing and covering of the mouth when sneezing or yawning. The sharia directive calls the coronavirus a “plague” that has been “sent by God on whosoever He wills.” (RELATED: President Trump Appoints Vice President Trump To Head Coronavirus Task Force)
“Illnesses do not strike by themselves but by the command and decree of God,” the directive read. ISIS also told followers who are already in Europe to stay put and not travel back to the Middle East.
The “healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it,” it said.
Terrorist-friendly Iran has also been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus. Reports suggest that the mass graves dug to accommodate those who have died as result of the disease are large enough to be identified from space satellites. (RELATED: President Trump Orders Near-Total Ban Of Travel From Europe To US In Coronavirus Address)
A woman wears a protective mask, as she carries her child amid concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread, at Najaf airport in the holy city of Najaf upon his arrival from Iran, Iraq March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-marjan
Almost 10% of Iranian parliamentarians have been infected with the virus and members of the government have died from the disease. Mohammad Mirmohammadi, an adviser of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died from the COVID-19 on Monday while Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican was another fatality.
Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization made the call to officially label the coronavirus a pandemic.