A Is For Allah, B Is For Boom – ISIS’ New App

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ISIS, the terror group riding the edge of the wave in technology, has launched a new app, and this one is aimed at children. The app’s stated purpose is to teach children Arabic, but Huroof, as the app is called, is little more than a propaganda tool riddled with jihadist messages.

Huroof contains games and songs to learn the Arabic alphabet, but screenshots by the Long War Journal show that the messaging of the app is saturated with militaristic vocabulary, with words like “bullet,” “rocket,” and “tank.”

This isn’t the first piece of software released by ISIS, but while last year’s Amaq News Agency app purported to provide informative news coverage relevant to the group’s adherents, Huroof is the first app known to specifically target children.

In a statement announcing the app, released on the secure messaging service Telegram, ISIS said Huroof “teaches the cubs the alphabet letters.” But the clear purpose behind the app is to have these cubs grow up to be “lions,” the moniker ISIS uses for adult militants.

Previously, the group has released videos produced in territories under its control which showed children participating in training for jihad, as well as several in which children are “involved in beheadings and executions of prisoners held by the Islamic State,” Long War reports.

ISIS is, however, no longer the only jihadist group trying to cash in on the burgeoning app market. The Taliban last month released an Android app called Alemarah. It reportedly serves a venue to release official Taliban statements. Alemarah was briefly available on the Google Play store before being taken down.