In first, IS urges women to join jihad and carry out terror attacks

The Islamic State has for the first time called on women to carry out terror attacks and wage jihad against the West.

A newspaper run by the terror group called on Muslim women to “fulfill their duties on all fronts in supporting the mujahedeen in this battle” and “prepare themselves to defend their religion by sacrificing themselves by Allah,” the UK’s Independent reported on Friday.

IS is infamous for its oppression and subjugation of women under its rule, and has traditionally entrusted females only with homemaking roles. But the organization’s increasingly desperate struggle as it loses ground in Iraq and Syria may have encouraged a more flexible attitude.

The jihadist paper rationalized the new approach by noting that women had in fact partaken in combat at some points in history, including during Islam’s Golden Age.

The Independent noted that the call to arms could have significant consequences in Western nations, where threats by Islamists have so far been almost entirely limited to the male population. Female Mideast refugees have generally been considered far less of a potential danger, and have undergone less comprehensive screenings.

IS has seen its self-declared “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq shrink steadily over the past two years and has lost all but a few of its main hubs in both Arab states.

Syrian regime forces on Friday broke into the eastern town of Mayadeen, one of the Islamic State’s last bastions in Syria, backed by Russian air raids taking a deadly toll on civilians.

Mayadeen in the oil-rich eastern province of Deir Ezzor is seen as the jihadist group’s “security and military capital” in Syria, and its loss would deal “a severe blow” to the jihadists, according to a Syrian military source.

Over the course of months of successive defeats, Mayadeen and nearby Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border have taken in IS fighters fleeing the battle to the north for Raqqa city in the face of an offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces.

IS remains in control of half of Deir Ezzor province, despite advances by President Bashar Assad’s forces and a separate offensive against the jihadists by the Kurdish-Arab alliance.

Meanwhile on Friday the FBI said it thwarted a jihadist plot to attack US targets including New York’s subway and Times Square.

Three people have been charged with involvement in the planned attacks, which were to be carried out in the name of IS during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in 2016.