ISIS threatens Russia World Cup, releases horrifying Lionel Messi poster
Lionel Messi has had his photo doctored horrifically to picture him bleeding from the eyes - caught behind what appears to be prison-cell-bars by the Wafa Foundation, a propaganda cell of the terrorist organisation ISIS - their latest in a series of threats that have been levelled at Russia over the past few days.
The poster states "You are fighting a state that does not have failure in its dictionary" while also parodying Nike's famous 'Just do it' tagline with the not-so-catchy "Just Terrorism".
The poster was discovered by terror watch-dog SITE Intelligence Group who then released it onto twitter - what an utterly chilling image it is.
This was the latest in a series of images released by assorted groups affiliated with ISIS, one of them stated '" swear that the Mujahideen's fire will burn you... just you wait" in a poster where a terrorist armed with a gun and a tonne of explosives is standing next to a sports stadium while yet another had a gunman, a meat cleaver covered in blood and the caption: "Soon. Just terror. So the penalty of your strikes will be paid in your lands."
ISIS has a long, violent, history with Vladimir Putin - the Russian President having cut his teeth fighting (Islamic) Chechen rebels and having entered the Syrian civil war against ISIS, Russian airstrikes crippling the terror group and turning the tide (of the war) against them. ISIS, though, has remained a credible threat and continues recruiting gullible, disillusioned youth - and Russia is taking these threats rather seriously.
After repeated airstrikes in Syria, ISIS had retaliated with a bomb blast in St.Petersburg's metro system, which killed 14 and forced Russia to to amp up security measures further.
ISIS had previously claimed responsibility for setting off a bomb outside the Stade de France - on the night of the infamous Paris terror attacks - when the French were playing Germany in a friendly.
They had also threatened to disrupt Euro 2016 and the Women's Euro 2017, but both tournaments had gone ahead under heavy security cover... this is, however, the first time they are using a footballer's image to get their point across - and the effect it has had is truly chilling as their threats graduate from vague and generic to more specific, and thus more dangerous (and naturally, more frightening) ones.