By Hend Kortam

CAIRO, Nov. 16 (Aswat Masriya) - Within seventy-two hours of the worst terrorist attack on French soul, Islamic State in Syria and Iraq militants (ISIS) vowed in a video circulated on the internet Monday to stage more attacks, specifically naming Washington D.C. and Rome as their next target.

A lengthy video, lasting just over 11 minutes, that was circulated on social media showed men holding rifles who identified themselves as "the soldiers of the caliphate," promising European countries that they "are coming with bombs ... are coming with [suicide] belts."

Addressing French President Francois Hollande, a speaker said he will taste the "cup of death".

In the video, a speaker swore to carry out strikes in the U.S.'s "home base", Washington D.C. and in the Italian capital Rome, sending a clear warning to countries in the U.S.- led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria, which includes France.

The video was being circulated in tandem with Hollande's speech to a joint session of both French houses of parliament, in which he said, "terrorism will not destroy the republic because it is the republic that will destroy terrorism. Long live France."

France's reaction to the attacks was to launch fresh strikes on ISIS stronghold Rakka in Syria. The French defence ministry said on its Facebook page on Sunday night that one ISIS training camp was destroyed.

France has called 1,000 backup soldiers for internal security and has declared a state of emergency after the attacks, which may be extended beyond the maximum 12 days mandated by the law to continue for three months.

Hollande said in his speech that the attack was planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, with French help, according to a translation of the speech by France 24. French authorities said Sunday that the Paris attackers were helped by three brothers from Belgium.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that a Belgian suspect, Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified as the "mastermind" behind the Paris attack, citing sources close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Inside France, the reaction to the Paris attacks in the press has been cautious. Freelance French journalist Alexis Duvall told Aswat Masriya on Sunday night that the media was not making any assumptions about the killers.

"People waited and that is quite rare," Duvall said.

Global reaction

Globally, at state levels, many countries have vowed to continue to fight terrorism.

U.S. President Barack Obama told the G20 summit in Turkey on Monday that the U.S. is streamlining the process by which it shares "intelligence and operational military information with France." It will allow personnel to pass information on ISIS even more quickly and more often, he said.

ISIS is the "face of evil", he said, reiterating the U.S.’s aim to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the group.

Even in Egypt, the state's national security council held a meeting on Monday, headed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. At the top of their agenda was a discussion of efforts to fight terrorism inside and outside Egypt, state television said.   

Among the many gestures that supported the French after the deadly Friday attacks, was one Facebook application which allowed French nationals to check-in as safe, notifying friends on Facebook.

But across the Middle East, people took to social media to criticise the application, which was not made available on Facebook for the Lebanese capital Beirut which was hit with a double suicide attack on Thursday, just one day before Paris’s Friday carnage.

Lebanese journalist Yara Nahle believes the comparison between the two capitals drives home a reality that is so prevalent people no longer notice it, "that white lives matter, others do not."

The Facebook check only makes it more obvious, she said in a written response to Aswat Masriya's questions. 

Nahle said the comparison "is very legitimate," describing it as common sense. 

Yet, she told to Aswat Masriya, "I am not satisfied of course because this difference in media coverage should not have even happened."

Nahle says the public is more upset about Beirut not having been covered appropriately in the first place than it is happy about the coverage later on. 

"I am not satisfied also because it's not only about Lebanon ... Children are still dying in Syria and Yemen..." she said. 

The criticism prompted Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to post a statement on Sunday saying, that Facebook's policy was to activate the check for natural disasters, adding, "we just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well."

"You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world. We care about all people equally," he wrote.

A gesture of solidarity

Egypt's Great Pyramid was lit with the flags of Lebanon, France and Russia on Sunday evening, as Egypt's tourism ministry showed solidarity with the victims of separate attacks that have claimed hundreds of civilians lives across three continents. 

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only surviving ancient wonder of the world, was adorned with three messages of solidarity, in French, Arabic and Russian. Some people gathered at the Pyramids lit candles in memory of those who were killed. 

The Russian calamity saw the killing of all 224, mostly Russians, on Oct. 31 when the charter flight carrying them blew up in midair over the Sinai Peninsula in what is widely believed to be an act of sabotage by ISIS.

On Nov. 12, a double suicide blast in Beirut claimed the lives of at least 41 people, which targeted a predominantly Shia neighbourhood. The attacks in Paris came the next day.

But Egypt's pyramid was not the only historic monument that was adorned with the French flag. The London Eye, the Empire State Building and landmarks in several other countries were lit with the colours of the French flag.

Egypt's show of solidarity comes amid fear of the grave economic consequences the Russian plane crash will have on the tourism sector, which the ministry of tourism said will lead to lost revenue of at least EGP 2.2 billion per month. 

Through years of political turmoil, Egypt has been scrambling to revive this vital sector for its economy which provides much-needed hard currency inflows.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for all three attacks, signaling what seems to be a new strategy for the group, to attack globally.