Expert cautions IS video shouldn’t be taken as direct threat to Ireland

A purported Islamic State video which includes Ireland as a member of a “coalition of devils” should not be seen as a direct threat, an expert has cautioned.

Maura Conway, senior lecturer in international security at Dublin City University, said the video was exploiting the Paris atrocities.

The expert on online extremism was commenting on the back of widespread coverage of the video, with media reports that IS was threatening to attack or target Ireland.

The Irish tricolour is one of 60 national flags representing those countries which IS says in the video are part of a “new coalition of devils”.

In a slick Hollywood-type trailer, a booming American voiceover says the “flames of war” will destroy the coalition.

Ms Conway said the video seemed to be an official IS production: “The logo in the top-right corner is for al-Hayat, which is an official IS media production outlet.”

On the inclusion of Ireland, she said IS produced in the region of 800-1,000 discrete items of content – magazines, photographs, and videos – every month.

“This one is getting a lot of attention because of the present climate, the video’s Hollywood-type structuring and, in Ireland, because Ireland is identified,” said Ms Conway.

“I think it’s worth keeping in mind that this is not a direct threat at Ireland; Ireland is included with 59 other countries or a third of the world.”

She added: “Also, online threats of this sort should not be taken at face value. This is an opportune moment for IS to produce this sort of content to build on what they see as their ‘success’ in Paris; it costs them nothing and manages to frighten many.”

The four-minute clip starts by boasting of IS’s expanding territory, saying it was already greater than the size of Britain — and shows a map of both Britain and Ireland.

It says a new coalition of devils has formed, with Iran, Turkey, and Russia joining the fray. Against the backdrop of the flags of 60 counties, the narrator tells the coalition to “bring it on”.

It says: “Your numbers is only increasing our faith and we are counting the banners, which our prophets said would reach 80 in number — and then the flames of war will finally burn you on the hills of death.”