Anonymous Has Declared War on ISIS in Revenge for the Paris Attacks

“We will hunt you down.”

Jared Keller

Nov 16, 2015

The hacker collective Anonymous released a video message on YouTube Sunday declaring war on the Islamic State in the wake of Friday’s bloody terror attacks in Paris.

The video, posted in French, announces the beginning of #OpParis, a coordinated campaign to neutralize ISIS’s social media channels.

“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down,” an (anonymous) Anonymous spokesperson, his face shrouded in the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask, says in French. “Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared.”

“We will launch the biggest operation ever against you,” he added. “The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger.”

Make no mistake: #Anonymous is at war with #Daesh. We won't stop opposing #IslamicState. We're also better hackers. #OpISIS

— Anonymous (@GroupAnon) November 15, 2015

This isn’t the first time the hacker collective has targeted Islamic militants. The group launched a campaign to shut down social media accounts and websites linked to extremist groups in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last January, disrupting a major recruitment channel for terror groups.

NBC News analyst Evan Kohlmann reports that Anonymous has already targeted ISIS-linked social media accounts:

"Anonymous"-affiliated hackers have launched retaliatory attacks on suspected ISIS websites and Twitter accounts in the name of #OpParis.

— Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) November 15, 2015

https://twitter.com/opparisofficial/status/666079972079984640

You can view Anonymous’ #OpParis announcement video below in French. We’ll update with an English version as it becomes available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwGGcZoRs-k

Update: 11:03pm ET: Anonymous’ English-language release is a little different, but this isn’t that surprising given the decentralized nature of the hacker collective:

To defend our values and our freedom, we’re tracking down members of the terrorist group responsible these attacks, we will not give up, we will not forgive, and we’ll do all that is necessary to end their actions.

During the attacks of Charlie Hebdo, we had already expressed our determination to neutralize anyone who would attack our freedom.

We’ll be doing the same now, because of the recent attacks.

We therefore ask you to gather and to defend these ideals.

Expect a total mobilization on our part.

This violence should not weaken us. It has to give us the strength to come together and fight tyranny and obscurantism together.