The terrorist attacks in Paris were nightmarish in many ways, but perhaps the most worrisome news to come out of the Charlie Hebdo affair is that followers of a “pure” al Qaeda affiliate – al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula – and of ISIS – the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – worked together.
Video first obtained by the SITE jihadist monitoring group, analyzed by Thomas Jocelyn at Long War Journal and even reported by the New York Times reveals Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly swearing his loyalty to ISIS. “I pledged allegiance to the caliph [ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] as soon as the caliphate was declared,” said Coulibaly. It’s also notable that Coulibaly’s girlfriend and accomplice, Hayat Boumeddienne, escaped from France to Turkey and then to Syria – and presumably ISIS protection – just prior to the attacks.
