A radio station that broadcast ISIS propaganda in Iraq was bombed to silence by Iraqi forces, according to reports.
The Al-Bayan station, which was one of the most significant propaganda broadcasting tools for the terrorist organization, went silent on Sunday after it was bombed by jets, a spokesperson told NBC News.
“They used to broadcast Islamic anthems that encouraged people to join them,” the unidentified spokesperson told the network. It also called on people “to stand against the government and encouraged people to be terrorists under the name of jihad,” he said.
Another source said that the radio station’s entire staff was killed in the bombing, according to the AhlulBayt News Agency. The station was used to broadcast messages throughout Nineveh province. “The group has also been using this medium to broadcast instructions and guidance for its members,” a source was quoted as saying.
A man who fled Mosul last year and lives nearby told NBC that ISIS “used many means to broadcast their poisoning thoughts and ideologies—Al-Bayan radio station is one of them.”
“I believe that destroying their radio station is considered as a blow for their organization,” he added. The terrorist group would blast propaganda via speakers they set up in public places, including marketplaces.
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and a U.S.-backed coalition, meanwhile, are closing in on the village of Dabiq, which is referenced heavily in an apocalyptic prophesy that is paramount to ISIS’s ideology.
According to the Reuters news agency, Free Syrian Army rebel groups have been pushing forward into ISIS territory since Aug. 24. Villages near Dabiq have been taken.
Dabiq, according to ISIS, is the final battle between Muslims and perceived infidels, heralding the coming of the apocalypse.
“If matters proceed as planned, within 48 hours we will be in Dabiq,” Ahmed Osman, head of the Sultan Murad FSA group, told the news agency.
