alHayat Media Center

The al-Hayat Media Center is the media wing of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[1] It was established in mid-2014 by ISIL, which targets Western audiences and produces material in English, German, Russian and French.[2][3]

al-Hayat Media Center

Founded	2014
Founder	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Headquarters	Syria

In July 2014, al-Hayat began publishing a digital magazine called Dabiq, in a number of different languages including English. According to the magazine, its name is taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a hadith about Armageddon.[4] Al-Hayat also began publishing other digital magazines, including the Turkish language Konstantiniyye, the Ottoman word for Istanbul,[5][6] and the French language Dar al-Islam.[7] By late 2016, these magazines had apparently all been discontinued, with Al-Hayat's material being consolidated into a new magazine called Rumiyah (Arabic for Rome).[8]

On 29 June 2014 it released The End of Sykes-Picot, a reference to the 1916 accord that European states used to divide up the region after World War I and in which it calls for destruction of the border between Iraq and Syria.[9][10] The subject of the video is the ISIL fighter Abu Safiyya.[11]

In February 2015 British journalist John Cantlie appeared in a propaganda video from al-Hayat walking around ruins and interviewing locals in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo.[12] On 18 February it released a nasheed in French called Extend your Hand to Pledge Allegiance (French: Tends ta main pour l'allégeance),[13] which begins with speech by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and it is urged to make the hijra and join ISIS.[14]

In 2015, Al-Hayat released nasheed song "We are Mujahid", sung in Mandarin Chinese, which was the first ever Chinese jihadist materials published by ISIS. It was speculated the song was targeting Hui people (Chinese-speaking Muslims), as opposed to Uyghurs, who speaks Turkic languages. The Hui and Uyghurs each comprises around less than half of all Muslims in China.

In April 2015, Al-Hayat, though affiliated Telegram channels, threatened to blow up Anzac Day dawn memorial services in major cities across Australia and New Zealand, as well as Melbourne Cricket Ground, should Australian Defence Force continues to participate in CJTF-OIR in Iraq. ASIO alleged the Sydney-born jihadist Khaled Sharrouf, who joined ISIS in 2013, was behind this propaganda push.

In April 2016 it released a video featuring a large group of underage ISIS recruits singing in French wearing suicide belts and other weapons during military training.[15] It was titled "Blood for Blood" (French: Sang pour Sang).[16]

It has been responsible for the release of a 52-second trailer for The Flames of War, a video series called Mujatweets[17] and a nashid (Islamic chant) in French named "Ma vengeance" where it praised the Brussels bombing and both Paris attacks.[18] At the same time it released another video titled Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (French: Tuez-les où que vous les rencontriez) showing the Paris attackers threatening future violence.[19] Four Belges, three Frenchs and two Iraquis appeared in the video doing executions alternated with Paris attacks scenes.[20] Those nine terrorist were Abdelhamid Abaaoud (Abu Umar Al-Baljiki), Chakib Akrouh (Abu Mujahid al-Baljiki), Brahim Abdeslam (Abul-Qaqe Al-Baljiki); the kamikazes at Bataclan, Samy Amimour (Abu Qital al-Faransi), Ismaël Omar Mostefaï (Abu Rayyan al-Faransi) and Foued Mohamed-Aggad (Abu Fuad al-Faransi); and the kamikaze at Stade de France, Bilal Hadfi (Dhu-l-Qarnayn al-Faransi) and the Iraqis Ali al-Iraqi and Ukashah Al-Iraqi.[21]

On 31 December 2017 it spread via Telegram O' Disbelievers of the World (French: Mécréants de l'humanité) which shows an apocalyptic view of the war between ISIS and the unbelief.[22] The video shows Donald Trump, Bashar al-Assad, Putin, Netanyahu and Emmanuel Macron.[23] It features an opening monologue from spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani,[24] and the song is sung by Jean-Michel Clain.[25]

On 26 January 2018 it released a nasheed called Answer the Call where supporters were urged to carry out gruesome terror attacks in Western countries.[26]

On March 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of State officially deemed al-Hayat an alias of ISIL, and thus a Foreign Terrorist Organization.[27]