A new video released by the ISIS terror group late Sunday shows nine of the extremists who carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris beheading and shooting captives, as well as training with weapons while plotting the carnage that left 130 dead in the French capital.
The 17-minute video shows the extent of the planning that went into the multiple attacks in Paris, which French authorities have said from the beginning was planned in Syria. The video was provided online by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.
The video does not contain any footage of the attacks themselves, but is assembled from material shot before the men left for Paris, as well as news and amateur videos. The video did not specify where the nine men were filmed, but it was believed to have been in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.
The video also contains threats against the United Kingdom, showing images of London landmarks Tower Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral and claiming extremists are ready to strike “anytime, anywhere.” At one point, the image of British Prime Minister David Cameron is shown with a crosshair over his face.
A narrator describes the terrorists as “nine lions of the caliphate who were mobilised from their lairs to make a whole country, France, get down on its knees.”
Seven of the attackers — four from Belgium and three from France — spoke fluent French. The two others — identified by their noms de guerre as Iraqis — spoke in Arabic.
Seven of the militants, including a 20-year-old who was the youngest of the group, were filmed standing behind bound captives, described as “apostates,” who were either beheaded or shot.
Among those who can be seen in the video are Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up outside France’s national stadium on that deadly Friday night.
“You destroy our homes and kill our fathers, our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our children,” Hadfi says in a message directed at the members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.
“Soon on the Champs-Elysées,” says Samy Amimour, who was raised in a Paris suburb near the French national stadium, as he holds a captive’s head aloft.
One militant, Brahim Abdeslam, is seen at a makeshift shooting range. Abdeslam, whose brother Salah fled Paris that night and remains at large, blew himself up at a Paris cafe where he was the only victim. Salah Abdeslam is not seen in the video.
The Nov. 13 attacks targeted a packed concert hall, a restaurant and cafe, and a soccer match at the national stadium.
Immediately after the attacks, French President Francois Hollande imposed a nationwide state of emergency that is to remain in place until Feb. 26. Hollande has asked for an extension and reiterated that request Monday.
“No threat will give France pause in what it must do against terrorist. And if I have taken steps to extend the state of emergency, it is because I am aware of the threat and that we will not concede,” Hollande said in response to the video.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said the government is studying the video but would not comment on its contents.
According to the anti-ISIS activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, Brahim Abdeslam and two other attackers were trained in Raqqa, the extremist group’s stronghold and the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate.
In the video, as in other ISIS propaganda trying to drive a wedge between European Muslims and their governments, the men say it is a religious duty to join them. They threaten more attacks in Europe, and the footage closes with one of the militants holding a severed head and footage of Cameron giving a speech — with a text in English warning that whoever stands with the unbelievers “will be a target for our swords.”