Beirut, Lebanon: The ISIS group's online propaganda channels went mysteriously quiet for more than a full day between Wednesday and Thursday, in what analysts said was an "unprecedented" silence.
ISIS, which uses messaging application Telegram to broadcast daily updates on military operations and claims of attacks, published nothing between 0900 GMT on Wednesday and 1001 GMT on Thursday.
Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, called the silence "unprecedented."
"But there were no 24-hour periods when it was completely silent," he told AFP.
On Wednesday, however, the group posted in a brief 30-minute window, skipping its usual "daily broadcast" entirely.
In 2017, ISIS has lost control of Mosul and Raqa, its two main hubs in Iraq and Syria respectively, and in recent days was ousted from the last towns it held in each country.
"ISIS media infrastructure has taken a real battering over the last few months and because of that, something is changing," he said.
According to coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon, the alliance has destroyed at least 500 ISIS communications buildings in Iraq and Syria in 2017, as well as killed several ISIS media workers.
The coalition was pleased to see less ISIS propaganda online, Dillon said, but it could also pose a challenge to future operations against the group.
"If we don't know where they are... then obviously it's harder for us -- you have to find them first," he told AFP.
ISIS, which uses messaging application Telegram to broadcast daily updates on military operations and claims of attacks, published nothing between 0900 GMT on Wednesday and 1001 GMT on Thursday.
Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, called the silence "unprecedented."
"But there were no 24-hour periods when it was completely silent," he told AFP.
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On Wednesday, however, the group posted in a brief 30-minute window, skipping its usual "daily broadcast" entirely.
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In 2017, ISIS has lost control of Mosul and Raqa, its two main hubs in Iraq and Syria respectively, and in recent days was ousted from the last towns it held in each country.
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"ISIS media infrastructure has taken a real battering over the last few months and because of that, something is changing," he said.
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In 2017, ISIS has lost control of Mosul and Raqa, its two main hubs in Iraq and Syria respectively
According to coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon, the alliance has destroyed at least 500 ISIS communications buildings in Iraq and Syria in 2017, as well as killed several ISIS media workers.
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The coalition was pleased to see less ISIS propaganda online, Dillon said, but it could also pose a challenge to future operations against the group.
"If we don't know where they are... then obviously it's harder for us -- you have to find them first," he told AFP.
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