Guys, I’m not going to ask for your prayers - I myself am not religious, but I am going to ask you to signal boost this. Marawi City in the Philippines has been invaded by ISIS, they are bombing the city and a school zone, and setting detainees free from prisons.
They say that this is a jihad, but anyone who even has a small understanding of Islam knows that Islam is not violent.
This is terrorism.
The world needs to know.
Update 1: They’re exchanging fire from both sides. Electricity is down. Friends are reporting that ISIS members are spotted in the schools and are giving them a few minutes to evacuate before they take over. Filipino media is silent.
Update 2: Christian teachers are being held hostage.
Update 3: Hospital staff being detained, ISIS flag has been raised in the city hospital. The fighting occurred not in the outskirts of Marawi, but on its streets, around the city hall and public market.
I’m sorry, I’m stringing together what information my friends are still giving me. I don’t know how long they can keep this up - a lot of them are saying that their phones are dying.
Update 4: Armed Forces of the Philippines telling people to go underground, airstrikes coming. Mortars are being prepared too.
for those that need sources:
+ NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/05/23/world/asia/ap-as-philippines-muslim-militants.html?_r=0
The group in Mawari, Philippines has associated themselves with IS, but there is no evidence anyone from Saudi Arabia has gone to the Philippines to lead IS. More likely, this is a separate extremist group that has labeled themselves as such to gain the weight of threat and credibility. The group has aligned themselves with other extremist terrorist groups in the past. This is truly terrifying. It is also good to make the distinction between IS fighters and those who label themselves as such but we in fact something else.
